Kanpur: Naubasta police arrested a Rs 25,000-rewarded woman in connection with a 2025 human trafficking case in which a 16-year-old girl from Kanpur was allegedly abducted, taken to Rajasthan and sold. The accused, identified as Palak Singh alias Sonali Awasthi, was apprehended from her residence in Hardev Nagar, Barra, and sent to jail on the orders of the court.According to police, Palak allegedly rendered the minor unconscious by making her inhale an intoxicating substance on the pretext of taking her for shopping. She then allegedly transported the girl to Rajasthan and sold her to the operator of an institution.On April 3, 2025, a labourer from the Hanspuram area lodged a complaint at Naubasta police station regarding the abduction of his 16-year-old daughter. He said his daughter had left home to buy household items from a nearby shop but did not return.Police said the accused allegedly kidnapped the girl on the evening of March 30. On April 5, the girl contacted her brother-in-law in Lucknow and informed him that she had been abducted and sold for Rs 1 lakh to a woman running a social foundation in the Ankhuriya area of Jaipur, Rajasthan.Police said the woman later allegedly sold the girl, under the pretext of marriage, to a middle-aged man in Nagaur district for Rs 2.5 lakh. After learning that the girl had been sold, a Naubasta police team travelled to Rajasthan and traced her to a house in Ankhuriya.Following the girl’s recovery, police arrested 52-year-old Gayatri, the operator of the foundation who had allegedly purchased her, along with her accomplice Hanuman, a resident of Gagar-Bada near Premnagar Puliya. Both were sent to jail.Police said they had already arrested the foundation operator and the alleged buyers of the girl before apprehending Palak, on whom a reward of Rs 25,000 had been announced.
