Patna July 23 (IANS): The Araria district police have rescued a seven-year-old girl from the clutches of human traffickers and arrested four persons in connection with the case.

Araria district SP Amit Ranjan said the police have successfully rescued the 7-year-old girl who was sold to human traffickers for Rs 50,000.

At around 10 p.m. on Sunday, a woman named Kuniya Khatoon informed the Raniganj police station that her 7-year-old daughter had gone missing from the market area. The woman claimed she had gone there for treatment at a clinic when a youth named Sonu approached her. So after, her daughter had gone missing.

“As the matter was sensitive, we immediately constituted a team headed by the SDPO (Sadar) for the rescue operation. Based on technical surveillance, the location of Sajharul alias Sonu was traced to the Pratapganj bus stand in adjacent Supaul district,” the SP said.

Acting promptly, the police rescued the minor girl and arrested Sonu from the location along with a woman named Jahana Khatoon and her husband Shah Mazhar, a resident of Hingoli in Maharashtra,

“The arrested persons confessed that they purchased the minor girl from her mother, Kuniya Khatoon, for Rs 50,000. It was Sonu who established contact with Kuniya Khatoon to buy her daughter,” Amit Ranjan said, adding that the minor girl's mother has also been arrested.

In his confession statement, Shah Mazhar admitted that he and his wife Jahana Khatoon were involved in purchasing minor girls and pushing them into prostitution.