SHILLONG, OCT 28: Meghalaya police have unearthed a major human trafficking network that lured young girls into traveling to other states under the pretext of marriage, only to be sold off.
Three individuals, including the kingpin of the gang, have been arrested in connection with the case.
According to Ri Bhoi SP V Rathore, a case was registered in June 2025 after a girl went missing in the Byrnihat area.
During investigation, it was found that the girl was in Rajasthan and had been sold and married to an unknown person in lieu of Rs 3 lakh.
The girl was rescued with the help of Rajasthan Police and brought back to Meghalaya.
Further investigation revealed that the accused, Rajesh Hinge, Md. Khalil Ali, and Monika, were involved in the human trafficking network.
They befriended their targets on social media platforms, lured them into traveling to other states, and then sold them off. The accused have sold at least 5 girls from Assam and 1 girl from Tripura in the last 2 years.
The police have appealed to parents and children to be aware of this modus operandi and to be cautious while interacting with people on social media.
“The investigation shows a common modus operandi involved in human trafficking i.e., the target is identified and befriended on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. and after chats and calls for some time, they are lured into going to other places like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, etc. on the pretext of marriage, tourism, etc. and then sold off,” the SP said.
“Therefore, our children need to be more aware and inform the parents if any such incident occur. They should be very careful and alert as the same modus operandi may be used to commit other crimes like Cyber Fraud, UPI fraud, Blackmailing, etc. They should not install any unknown application or click any suspicious link else their mobile phones and computers may be compromised,” he added.
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