A 60-year-old woman involved in trafficking girls and forcing them into prostitution has been arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district after being on the run for over 20 years, Delhi Police said on Tuesday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said the accused, Logona, had been arrested in 1993 in a kidnapping and human trafficking case filed at the Amar Colony police station (then known as Sri Niwas Puri police station). A chargesheet had been filed in the case and Logona subsequently secured her release on bail, but she went absconding in 2000 and was declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court in December of that year, he added.
According to an officer, while examining some old cases and contacting former offenders, Delhi Police received a tip-off earlier this month about Logona.
“The police only had her name and a 30-year-old photograph. We deployed teams and local intelligence and learned from one of Logona’s relatives that she might be in hiding with her son in Badaun’s Ghillor village. She was finally caught during a raid,” the officer added.
The DCP said that Logona used to work with another man, Lala Ram Jatav, to kidnap girls and sell them off in Delhi to people who would force them into prostitution.
He added that 7-8 years ago, the police had nearly caught her in Cheera village near Badaun, but she managed to escape by almost setting fire to the entire slum area where she lived.
“Logona had been living in different places over the last eight years,” Mr. Meena said.
