A day after the arrest of 50-year-old Vandana Dhir for allegedly torturing her domestic help, the South district police are now looking for the three women involved in human trafficking of domestic help in this case. Meanwhile, the accused was produced before a city court on Wednesday afternoon and has been sent to 14-day judicial custody after police said her further custodial interrogation was not required.
In a related development, the court inquired from the police regarding the age of the victim and the investigating officer (IO) said that according to the doctors, she is aged between 18-20 years but an ossification test, which it would be conducted on Thursday, will ascertain her actual age.
Police sources said that initially Vandana was cooperating with the investigators, but after the sustained interrogation, she told the police that she accidentally fell in the washroom. "She told the police that around one-and-half years ago, with the help of the victim's aunt, Dorothy, a domestic help was employed by her after paying Rs 30,000 as commission. But, the victim left the job without telling her," the officer said adding that there is a strong possibility that she too was tortured and now investigators are looking for her.
The accused also told the investigators that the victim was earlier working in lajpat Nagar and was brought to Vandana's house by her aunt. She had paid Rs 5,000 to the girl's aunt. "They decided to give her Rs 4,500 per month as salary, but did not give her money on time and now her four months' salary is outstanding," the officer added. Investigators have recovered the slip of the placement agency, situated in Kotla Mubarakpur area, from where she was hired, but its address and other facts are to be verified. Further investigation revealed that the girl was trafficked from Jharkhand around three years ago and was sold to a placement agency for Rs 35,000.
After the questioning, Dhir was produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar and her counsel claimed that the alleged victim was mentally unstable.
Dhir's counsel told the court that injury marks were there on the girl's body since she started working at his client's house and Dhir was continuously getting her treated for it. "Kindly see the medical reports and see the opinion of the doctor who was treating the girl earlier. She is mentally unstable. The placement agency had said that she hails from a tribal area and injuries were there on her body earlier too. She was working at my house since June and I am providing for her medical treatment since August," Dhir's counsel said.
The police, however, opposed her lawyer's claim and said there were grievous injury marks on the girl's body, including a deep gash on her head, and the victim had herself stated to the police that she was confined in the house and beaten continuously.