15-year-old 'sold' for Rs 60,000, rescued from Rajasthan: Police

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have now tracked a 15-year-old girl who went missing from her home more than a month ago, discovering that she was sold to a man in Rajasthan for Rs 60,000 by a man she had befriended near her home in Delhi's Haiderpur area, officials said on Sunday.

The police, through their investigations across state lines, found that the victim girl was "sold" so that she could be illegally married.

Officials here said that the victim had befriended one Neeraj Sonkar in her Delhi neighbourhood, who first lured the girl to the home of a woman named Sheetal in Uttar Pradesh's Agra with the help of another woman.

Following this, Sheetal and her associates further arranged for them to "sell" the girl to a man named Gopal Das, a resident of Rajasthan's Sikar area, according to the Delhi Police's findings.

The Delhi Police also found that both Sheetal and Neeraj had split the money evenly between them.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Alok Kumar, said that the case was very difficult to track because despite efforts, there were no clues leading them to a solve.

In light of this, the Joint CP said, a dedicated team of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit/Crime comprising HC Gopal Krishan, Ct Vijay Kumar and Inspector Amleshwar Rai was formed under the supervision of the AHTU ACP SK Gulia.

After several trips to meet relatives and friends of the victim girl and conducting local inquiries in her neighbourhood, the police found out about her friendship with Neeraj, also a resident of Haiderpur. After first going to Agra and then Sikar in Rajasthan along with the victim girl's brother, the police found Gopal Lal and discovered that he had "bought" the girl to marry her forcibly to his brother-in-law — Daanvir.

The police here said that they had recovered Rs 30,000 from Neeraj's possession and eventually brought Gopal, Neeraj and Sheetal to the police station in Delhi for legal action. The Joint CP said legal action will be taken against these three and the woman who helped Neeraj get the girl to Agra.

They have added that Gopal's brother-in-law Daanvir remains absconding.