The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) have foiled a suspected human trafficking attempt, rescuing 12 minor girls who were allegedly trafficked from Rajasthan to Kerala with the support of a Perumbavoor-based charity firm.
Apart from booking two persons who accompanied the girls and parents of some of them to Kozhikode by train on Tuesday night, Jacob Varghese, a pastor from Ernakulam who headed the charitable trust named ‘Karuna’ ,was remanded in judicial custody on Thursday in connection with the case.
GRP sources said the charitable trust’s name came out when they quizzed the two agents, Lokesh Kumar and Shyam Lal who accompanied the girls. They were noticed by the RPF when the squad was alerted by a few passengers who were travelling by the train. The plan of the agents was to take the girls to Ernakulam, which was foiled by rescue squads at the Kozhikode railway station.
