Inter-State Gang Selling Girls For Rs 1.5 Lakhs Busted In Lucknow; 3 Arrested

A sophisticated trafficking network targeting vulnerable minors has been dismantled by Lucknow police, who rescued two girls before they could be forced into marriage.

The Lucknow police have successfully dismantled an inter-state gang involved in a chilling human trafficking racket, where vulnerable minor girls were allegedly being sold into forced marriages for Rs 1.5 lakhs. Following an intensive operation that spanned multiple days, authorities arrested three individuals and apprehended a juvenile suspect, effectively putting an end to a criminal enterprise that preyed on the most marginalized members of society.

The Investigation and Rescue

The case surfaced on May 12 after the disappearance of two minors, aged 16 and 12, from Ganihar village in the Mohanlalganj area. Their grandmother filed a formal complaint, stating that a juvenile relative and a woman named Priya Patel had lured the girls away under the false pretense of visiting their mother. With the girls' mobile phones switched off, investigators faced an immediate hurdle. DCP (Lucknow South) Amit Kumar Anand noted that a multi-pronged approach was deployed, including the review of over 150 CCTV camera feeds and the use of both technical and manual surveillance to track the suspects.

The breakthrough came on May 18, when police teams tracked and rescued the two girls. Subsequent interrogations revealed the dark nature of the operation: the girls were being transported to Kota, Rajasthan, to be sold for marriage. The arrests were finalized near the Atroli crossing, where suspects Anurag Yadav (25), Mohammad Akhtar (32), and Priya Patel (23) were taken into custody.

Modus Operandi of the Racket

According to investigators, the inter-state gang specifically targeted girls from financially weak backgrounds or those who had lost their parents, exploiting their precarious living situations. The gang operated by establishing contact with victims through trusted circles before whisking them away. Once the girls were in their control, the traffickers would circulate photographs to associates in Rajasthan, arranging marriages in exchange for significant sums of money.

This incident highlights a persistent challenge for law enforcement agencies, who are increasingly dealing with organized networks that exploit inter-state borders to evade local policing. By moving victims from Uttar Pradesh to Rajasthan, the perpetrators intended to make the girls difficult to trace. The involvement of a juvenile relative in the kidnapping underscores the disturbing lengths to which these syndicates go to manipulate family trust to facilitate their criminal ends.

The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). While the girls have been safely recovered, the swift action of the four police teams—including plainclothes units—has brought attention to the systemic risks faced by minors in rural, economically disadvantaged areas. Officials confirmed that the investigation remains ongoing to identify further links in this human trafficking chain.