In a chilling repeat of a recent trafficking case, police from the Pradhannagar Police Station under the Siliguri Police Commissionerate rescued 34 young women from a private luxury bus at the Siliguri bus terminus on Sunday evening. The operation foiled a carefully orchestrated plan to traffic the women out of the state, marking North Bengal’s second major rescue within a week.

Three individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident — Gautam Roy of Siliguri, Petrus Beck of Meteli in the Dooars, and Jayshree Pal of Bhaktinagar in Siliguri.

Police sources revealed that the traffickers planned to transport the girls first to Ranchi in Jharkhand by road and then send them by train to Tamil Nadu. Each girl was being trafficked for a payment of Rs 4,000, according to initial findings. All of the rescued young women hail from Kalchini in Alipurduar district.

Promised jobs, misused government logos

The girls were allegedly lured with false promises of jobs in an electronics company based in Bangalore — the same ruse used in the earlier case involving 56 girls rescued from New Jalpaiguri Railway Station just days ago.

“They were temporarily kept at a hostel in the Bhavesh More area near Siliguri,” said a police officer. “The traffickers used logos and symbols resembling central and state government agencies to win the trust of the victims.”

Pradhannagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge BD Sarkar confirmed the rescue. “The girls have been rescued and their families are being contacted. A detailed investigation is underway,” he said.

The police are now interrogating the arrested individuals to identify the larger network behind the operation. Given the similarities between the two recent cases, investigators believe a well-organized inter-state trafficking racket may be operating across eastern and southern India.

Growing concerns and the way forward

The use of both railway and bus routes to smuggle women out of the state has raised serious concerns among authorities. With patterns emerging, a disturbing question looms: Were traffickers planning to move hundreds of young women in phases under the guise of employment?

This second bust within a week underscores the urgent need for stricter surveillance at transport hubs, enhanced inter-state coordination among law enforcement agencies and greater awareness campaigns to prevent vulnerable individuals from falling prey to such schemes

As investigations deepen, the focus now shifts to dismantling the trafficking network before more lives are endangered.

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