The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will investigate the case against human trafficker Panna Lal Mahto, a resident of Khunti district, who is alleged to have amassed properties worth around Rs 100 crore through people smuggling in the past 18 years.
The agency on Thursday informed the special NIA court of Navneet Kumar at Ranchi civil court that it would take up the investigation against 40-year-old Mahto.
“In Khunti, there are as many as 13 cases against Mahto. He is currently under judicial custody after he was arrested by Khunti police in July last year. As many as four minor girls were rescued from his confinement and an FIR was lodged. The NIA will investigate that case,” a senior official of Khunti police said.
The FIR was lodged against him under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including 371 (habitual dealing in slaves), 366 (kidnapping), and 370 (trafficking).
During his arrest, police had seized several incriminating documents along with his his property details.
Mahto was arrested twice in 2006 and 2015, but walked out of the jail after securing bail.
Last year, Jharkhand Police had formally approached the NIA to take up the cases against him. The state police had also submitted a proposal to the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the money-laundering cases against Mahto.
Asked why the NIA was taking up only one case against him, the Khunti police official said the other cases might be clubbed with it during the course of probe.
Besides Khunti, Mahto is facing cases in Ranchi and Delhi. Other than Jharkhand, he had his networks in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. In Delhi, he used to operate an agency that he named Panna Lal Placement Agency.
There is no confirmed record on how many minor girls Mahto had trafficked so far, but child rights activists said the number was not less than 10,000.
“He was very young when he left for Delhi and was doing some odd work on a monthly payment of Rs 800. These metro cities have a high demand of cheap and trusted domestic help and he catered to that. He started trafficking girls from Jharkhand and selling them at high price. He started his own placement cell and built up an empire. He is one of the notorious human traffickers of the eastern zone and has amassed properties worth around Rs 100 crore over the years. He has two wives,” said one of the child rights activists from Khunti.
According to the dossier prepared by Jharkhand Police and accessed by The Telegraph, Mahto owns a 1.27-acre plot at a prime location on Khunti-Mahil road, 2.54 acres at Fudi on Khunti-Ranchi road.
He had procured 35 decimal of land at Argora bustee in the capital city, an 80 decimal plot at Pundag and 1,237 square feet land at Argora Housing Colony.
Mahto had also purchased 5.12 acres of land at Hutar in Khunti and a house at Sukurpur colony in Delhi.
Out of his six bank accounts, three are in Delhi and the rest in Khunti.
Mahto also enjoyed close connections with politicians, a fact that came to the fore in 2014 when the state police were carrying raids to arrest the then minister and Congress MLA Yogendra Sao.
Sao was arrested in October 2014 from the residence of Mahto in Delhi.
