Puri district administration officials on Wednesday rescued as many as 21 girls from the Puri railway station while they were being trafficked to Kolkata to work in a prawn factory. Three brokers were also detained in this connection. The brokers were identified as Babaji Behera (42) of Arakhakuda, Upendra Babu Sethi (35) of Bhadrak district and Gautam Kundu (40) of West Bengal.
Acting on a tip-off, the officials raided the station and rescued the girls belonging to Arakhakuda in the Brahmagiri area of Puri district. Out of the rescued girls, 11 are minors. The rescue operation was jointly conducted by officials from the District labour Office, the District Child Protection Unit, the GRP and the Child line.
