Woman wanted in child trafficking case held

She was brought to Chennai on Monday from Mumbai and remanded in judicial custody. Haru Manju Datta (55), hailing from Khar West in Mumbai is suspected to have trafficked at least seven children, using fake passport, to foreign countries with the connivance of some immigration officers, who had been already arrested by CCB. Haru Manju Datta used to pose as mother of the children to take them abroad.

The CCB has arrested six persons, including two immigration officers – D Jayasingh and R Stephan of Chennai. Other arrested persons were identified as S Vinothkumar, D Tamilmaran, D Jeppiar and M Natarajan. The racket used to charge Rs 6 lakh each to send people to foreign countries.

The police came to know about the woman’s link with the immigration officers after they checked the CCTV footage that showed her interacting with a particular officer on April 9. She was travelling with a child named Haru Hitesh at that time.

The passport she used for the child was stamped only during the departure and not on arrival. The passport was used seven times – four times from Delhi and three times from Chennai – by Haru Manju Datta for departing with the child, indicating immigration officers aided the trafficking.

Officials noted that the immigration officer has to check all the previous travel records of a passenger before giving clearance and in the case of Haru Manju Datta, it was intentionally overlooked. If no corresponding arrival for each departure was found, it means that there was something fishy, the officer added.

The CCB of the city police had registered a case of kidnapping, impersonation, cheating and criminal conspiracy under the sections of the IPC.