THRISSUR: The first additional district sessions judge of Thrissur PN Vinod turned down the bail plea of the accused in a human trafficking case.
The accused Arjun Kilaka (24) –who is the son of Sinta Kilaka of Rayagada in Odisha –had allegedly trafficked a minor girl and four women from Odisha to Kerala. According to the police Arjun, the women and the minor girl were apprehended at Thrissur railway station on July 10.
They arrived by Dhanbad-Alappuzha Express and the coordinator of the child helpdesk at the railway station Akhila sought their details after she saw them moving in a suspicious manner on the platform. Akhila alerted the police when she found the age of the girl was altered in the Aadhaar to conceal the fact that she was a minor.
When police questioned them, they found that the women and the minor were brought forcibly to work as domestic helps in different houses here. The accused was fleecing money from house owners for deploying them as domestic helps, said prosecutor KD Babu. The women also had to pay him, police said.
The women are being lodged at Sakhi women rescue centre while the minor was lodged at another rehabilitation centre. “At this stage, I’m satisfied that the prosecution has established a strong prima facie case against the accused. At this stage the plea of false implication cannot be upheld,” the judge said in his order.
The judge pointed out that the case diary indicated that the investigation was at a preliminary stage. “The grave nature of the allegations and the stage of investigation lead me to the conclusion that granting bail to the petitioner at this stage will hamper the course of investigation,” he said.
