Kolkata, July 26 (IANS) A member of a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) operating from Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district was arrested for his alleged involvement in trafficking women.

The arrested person was identified as Virendra Pratap Singh, the project director of the ‘Durg Education and Charitable Society’, said the police on Saturday.

The police official said that the NGO is under scrutiny, and during the investigation, it came to the fore that girls from poor families were targeted and lured with the promise of providing jobs in big companies.

Interestingly, the people working for the organisation did not visit the rural areas themselves.

Rather, they appointed block-level agents who collected data from job applications from many such targeted women. The involvement of this NGO in the matter surfaced following the rescue of 56 women from being trafficked to other states earlier this week.

These women were rescued from a train compartment at Siliguri station earlier this week before they were trafficked.

Investigating officers are currently recording statements of the rescued women and trying to track down these agents.

A senior police officer investigating the matter revealed that the NGO was running a training centre and a hostel in the Siliguri area for the crime.

“After providing basic training and gaining their trust, the women were sent out for work in other states,” the police officer said.

As many as 56 young women were rescued from New Jalpaiguri railway station in north Bengal by the Railways Protection Force (RPF) and General Railway Police (GRO) early this week, and two persons were arrested in connection with the attempted human trafficking. The young women were rescued following a raid on the Patna-bound Capital Express.

The arrested persons tried to smuggle these women to another state on the pretext of providing them jobs in a famous mobile company.

The young women hailed from Jalpaiguri, Banarhat, Cooch Behar, and Kalchini areas of Alipurduar in north Bengal. Mainly, women living in and around tea garden areas were targeted.

“The statements of the rescued women will help track those persons who helped them take the girls to the training centre. Search is also on for girls from previous batches through the documents and computers recovered from that institution,” the investigating officer said.

–IANS

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