GUWAHATI, August 11: Assam Police rescued 13 more children belonging to Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Region who were trafficked to various parts of Sikkim and reportedly engaged in domestic work there.
With the latest operation on Tuesday, all 55 children from Chirang district who were taken to Sikkim have been rescued.
It may be mentioned that in a major breakthrough last month, a team from Assam Police carried out a search operation in Sikkim and rescued as many as 42 children from the district in BTR.
The kingpin of the child trafficking racket, Krishna Yogi, who is also a resident of Chirang, and his accomplice, were arrested and are in custody of Chirang police..
“During interrogation, Yogi revealed that 13 more children were still engaged in different households of Sikkim,” Chirang deputy superintendent of police, Laba Kumar Deka, who led the operation, stated.
The children were rescued mainly from Gangtok as well as Sintam in East Sikkim district and Ranipool and Namchi in South Sikkim.
The rescued children belong to economically backward areas along the India-Bhutan border.
According to police, the accused had taken advantage of the economic condition of the families of the children, lured them with money and trafficked the children to Sikkim.
Earlier on July 21, a police team led by Assam Police special DGP, L.R Bishnoi and assisted by Chirang SP, Gaurav Upadhyay had conducted an operation in Sikkim and rescued 42 children, aged between nine and 18 years.
They were taken to Sikkim on the pretext of providing education there but instead engaged in domestic work in various parts of the state.
The children primarily belong to the Adivasi, Bengali, Koch-Rajbongshi and Boro communities and hail from villages near the India-Bhutan border.