Jump to navigation. A victim's complaint has blown the lid off a mega flesh trade racket. Saudha Beevi, 50, who was running a chain of brothels in Sharjah and Dubai and had smuggled out nearly girls from Kerala, surrendered before the special investigation team of the state's police on Wednesday. A native of Kulasekharapathi in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, Saudha offered a saleswoman's job at a Sharjah supermarket to her year-old neighbour, Sheeja Azeez, four years ago.
Ravi gave Sheeja the papers but the officer at the emigration counter refused to clear them because her visa stated that she was a cook, which required an undertaking from the employer. Saudha and her driver Ahamed, a native of Kozhikode, were waiting for her at the Sharjah airport. They also tried to sell me to other brothels.
When that didn't work, the duo locked me up with a man and went out. Luckily, he was a Malayalee. I fell at his feet and told him my story and gave the telephone number of my sister's husband who is a small-time politician," Sheeja told the police. Later, she was sold to two Arabs. When she was being taken by them, some Malayalee social workers alerted by her brother-in-law rescued her.
A girl in the Sharjah flat told me Saudha had brought over girls from Kerala and some were languishing in Sharjah and Dubai jails. The victim then moved the Kerala High Court against the police inaction and it directed the DGP to reinvestigate the case. IG Padmakumar found that the police had earlier tried to hush up the case. A circle inspector and three sub-inspectors, including a woman officer, were suspended.
A special team was constituted to probe the case afresh. It arrested Shahana and Ahamed. Investigating officers said they had contacted many girls who had been taken to Sharjah, but they were not willing to testify as many of them had married and got settled.
