CBI arrests its own official for 'human trafficking'

New Delhi, Feb. 1 (PTI): The CBI has arrested one of its sub-inspectors along with another person for allegedly indulging in human trafficking by cheating people with the promise of sending them abroad for employment.

The two -- CBI Sub-Inspector Lilu Ram and Shyam Mohan -- were arrested on Tuesday and have been remanded to judicial custody, a CBI spokesman said today.

The agency arrested the duo after registering a case against Ram, Mohan and Rakesh Sharma (employees of a travel agency) and V P Arora (a tour operator) under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and Section 13(2) (criminal misconduct), 13(1)(d) (obtaining valuable things or pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Sharma and Arora are untraceable and the CBI is looking for them.

The modus operandi of the accused was to allure unemployed people with the promise of decent jobs in foreign countries against the payment of a huge amount. After arranging travel documents, visas and tickets, the unemployed persons were sent abroad, where other members of the gang would take over.

The passports of victims would be taken away and they would be taken from one place to another before the gang's members vanished.

One such victim returned to India and, after failing to get a refund from the accused, approached the CBI.

During its probe, six premises belonging to or linked to the accused were searched. Over 150 passports were recovered from one of these premises, CBI officials said.