A district court in Jhargram on Monday sentenced four persons, including the kingpin of a women trafficking racket, to 20 years of imprisonment for their involvement in a crime involving a minor girl.

“The additional district and sessions judge, Chinmay Chattopadhyay, who also chairs the POCSO court in Jhargram, awarded 20 years of imprisonment to those four including a woman on Monday. The investigation and trial process was so fast that it took only 10 months to ensure the punishment of those guilty,” said Kunal Kanti Ghosh, the assistant public prosecutor in the case.

Police sources said during the investigation of a missing complaint lodged by the girl’s mother in August last year, the cops uncovered the racket led by a woman named Pinkey Bishal.

Understanding the gravity of the issue in remote Jungle Mahal, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed under the leadership of Jhargram police chief Arijit Sinha. The SIT arrested all four persons involved with the racket, including kingpin Bishal.

A police source said the case was initially difficult to crack as the victim, who managed to escape from a hideout in West Midnapore, failed to identify anyone.

“Finally, we took help from the Swastha Sathi database and identified the accused one by one. We also used tower dumping technology to determine the locations of the accused. The kingpin was the last to be nabbed,” said a senior police officer in Jhargram.

He added that the racket had been operating in the area, luring poor school girls and young women for jobs and selling them for prostitution.

The court, in its order, also appreciated the “meticulous” and “professional probe” by the SIT headed by the Jhargram police superintendent. The inspector in charge of Jhargram police station, Biplab Karmakar, was the investigating officer.

An advocate said the cops did a tremendous job protecting all the witnesses during the trial to ensure a conviction.

“Our team worked hard to complete the trial and ensure the punishment of the guilty fast. It is one of the fastest trials and convictions in a human trafficking case. This case will be a precedent for criminals in other areas, too,” said Arijit Sinha, the Jhargram police superintendent and chief of the SIT.