5 held for abducting, selling Chhattisgarh woman in Haryana

Five people were arrested in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district for allegedly abducting a 23-year-old woman and her 4-year-old son and selling them in Haryana, police said on Friday.

The arrests were made over the last five days after the victim and her son returned home and her husband filed a complaint on November 22, said Alexander Kiro, Station House Officer (SHO) of Dongargarh police station.

"Sajda Syed (32), Salman Khan (30), Junaid Khan (22) and Shubham Tiwari, all from Dongargarh, were held on November 23, while fifth accused Ganga Pande was nabbed from Raipur on Thursday," he said.

"The victim has told us she was befriended by Sajda and went to her house along with her son on September 11. She was given tea mixed with sedatives and found herself in Raipur Airport when she regained consciousness. She and her son were taken to Delhi by flight and then to Haryana by road where she was kept in a rented house," Kiro said.

Accused Tiwari raped the woman and then sold her to a man named Suresh, and her attempt to escape failed, after which she was sold to another person identified as Rajesh in Haryana for marriage, the official said.

"However, when she narrated her ordeal to Rajesh, he alerted local police and helped her to return to Dongargarh.

Meanwhile, her husband had lodged a missing complaint in September after she and her son went untraceable," he said.

Accused Ganga Pande, reportedly a BJP worker, arranged for tickets to Delhi for the victim and her son, police said.

Rajnandgaon Additional Superintendent of Police Jaiprakash Barhai told PTI probe was on into the gang's Haryana and Delhi connection.

A statement from the BJP said Pande had been suspended from its primary membership.