Varanasi: At least seven girls, including six minors, were rescued from a spa centre near Malgodaam Crossing in Ballia on Friday evening by a joint team of Delhi and Ballia police. Delhi Police had come to trace a girl who allegedly helped in trafficking a girl from Delhi to a spa in Gujarat.Ballia CO (City) Mohd Usman said Saturday that Delhi Police, in connection with a case registered at Ambedkar Nagar police station in New Delhi, conducted a search at a spa centre with help from Ballia’s Kotwali police. Seven girls were rescued during the raid. Usman said the girls have been sent to the district’s One Stop Centre, and further legal proceedings and investigation are underway.Officials said Delhi Police, while investigating the missing girl, had rescued her from Gujarat. During questioning, she revealed that another girl who took her to the spa in Gujarat was now working at a spa in Ballia.Following the revelation, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit swung into action and a Delhi Police team reached Ballia on Friday. During nearly six hours of questioning, police recorded statements of all the rescued girls along with the spa centre’s manager and staff.The episode exposed a network of human traffickers allegedly supplying girls to spa centres mushrooming across the country, officials said. Police are now widening the scope of the investigation.
