Police Foil Priest's Bid to Transport Minor Girls to Tamil Nadu

New Indian Express
July 10, 2015

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/Police-Foil-Priests-Bid-to-Transport-Minor-Girls-to-Tamil-Nadu/2015/07/11/article2914779.ece

KADAPA: Acting on a complaint made by Bharataratna Mahila Mandali organisers that a prostitution gang was transporting minor girls to Tamil Nadu, police and RPF personnel raided the group in Kadapa railway station and nabbed three minor girls, two of their relatives and one more person on Friday.

Many of the girls ran away from the station after seeing the police. It was revealed that a local church was reportedly taking 25 local minor girls to Tirupur in Tamil Nadu for providing them training in tailoring.

According to reports, the church organisers of Kalasapadu in the district regularly send unemployed women and girls to Tirupur spinning mills to give them training in tailoring works. On Friday, under the protection of church priest Prasad, 25 minor girls aged between 13 and 15 years assembled at the Kadapa railway station waiting for their train.

Meanwhile the media got phone calls from Bharataratna Mahila Mandali organiser Moole Saraswathi saying that a prostitution gang was at the railway station to transport minor girls to Tamil Nadu. Immediately mediapersons along with police and RPF rushed to the spot.

After seeing the police, most of the girls ran away along with their luggage. Police took into custody three minor girls, their two relatives, and priest Prasad. During the interrogation by SI Rajareddy, the minor girls gave different versions. Priest Prasad who was reluctant to surrender his cell phone allegedly threw away the Sim card, which gave rise to doubts in the minds of the police. Complete details will come out only after the police interrogation.