The NIA on Saturday filed a chargesheet against four persons in a case relating to human trafficking in the guise of running placement agencies before the NIA Special Court, Ranchi under various Sections of the IPC, Provisions of the Inter- State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.

Those charged are Panna Lal Mahto, Sunita Devi (absconding), Gopal Oraon and Shiv Shankar Ganjhu.

The case was initially registered as FIR No. 07/2019 at AHTU police station in Khunti, Jharkhand on July 19, 2019 in which the accused Panna Lal Mahto, aged about 37 years, of village Ganaloya under Murhu police station, Khunti was arrested for running a Human Trafficking network in Jharkhand and New Delhi.

The NIA had taken over the investigation on June 13 last year after re-registering the case as RC-09/2020/NIA/DLI.

“During investigation, it was revealed that Panna Lal Mahto, the kingpin of human trafficking racket, along with his wife, Sunita Devi, was operating a Human Trafficking network in the guise of six Placement Agencies in Delhi. They used to traffic poor and innocent minor boy and girls from Jharkhand on the pretext of providing them jobs in Delhi and neighbouring States. However, the victims were exploited and were never paid the promised remunerations,” the NIA said in a statement.

During the investigation, two other accused Gopal Oraon and Shiv Shankar Ganjhu, both residents of Khunti district were arrested. Both were close associates of the kingpin Panna Lal Mahto, and were actively involved in trafficking vulnerable persons from Jharkhand, it said.

Investigation has also revealed that both were owners of three Placement Agencies in Delhi, involved in human trafficking racket. Another accused Sunita Devi, wife of arrested accused Pana Lal Mahto, is absconding.