Sex racket busted in Garhwa, 28 picked up for questioning

Garhwa: The Garhwa administration busted a sex racket and picked up 28 people, including five schoolgirls, for questioning and sealed three hotels in the town, police said.

While 23 were taken into custody, the schoolgirls were interrogated in presence of a female police officer and they were later released. The raid was conducted jointly by Garhwa SDM Sanjay Kumar and SDPO Neeraj Kumar along with a team comprising circle officer (CO) Shafi Alam, DSP (HQ) Yashodhra, inspector Sunil Kumar Tiwari and personnel of Garhwa Nagar Parishad on Monday.

A total of six, among those taken into police custody after raids in three hotels on Monday, were sent to jail on Tuesday under various sections of BNS, while FIRs were lodged against six others. Remaining all minors were handed over to their guardians, said the officer-in-charge of Garhwa police station, Sunil Kumar Tewari.

Those sent to jail were identified as Sorakh Paswan, Manoj Kumar, and Afridi Alam, Ashutosh Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar and Vikas Kumar. FIRs were lodged against the owners of the hotels, a manager and one operator of the hotels.

Garhwa SP Aman Kumar said, “Over two dozen persons, including schoolgirls, were taken into police custody for questioning. The schoolgirls of Class 9 and Class 10 were interrogated in presence of a female police officer, they were later released.”