NIA Court Awards Life Terms to Human Trafficking Ring in Hyderabad

The National Investigation Agency’s special court in Hyderabad pronounced life sentences for a nine‑person syndicate that trafficked Bangladeshi women into forced prostitution across India. Alongside the imprisonment, each offender was fined ₹1.37 lakh, with a clause that non‑payment will result in an additional three‑month custodial term.

Investigators linked the network to a September 2019 rescue operation that liberated three Bangladeshi women from a Jalapalli village brothel and another from a dwelling in Balapur’s Mahmud Colony. The original FIR was lodged at the Pahadi Sharif police station, after which the NIA assumed jurisdiction, reopened the case on 12 October 2019, and filed charges on 17 October 2020.

The accused—Ruhul Amin Dhali, Mohammed Yousuf Khan alias Mohammed Imran, Bithi Begum alias Khadija Sheikh, Imamul Gazi alias Mohammed Rana Hussain, Mohammed Al Mamun, Sojib Sheikh, Suresh Kumar Das alias Sagar, Mohammed Abdullah Munshi alias Abdul Sarkar, and Mohammed Ayub Sheikh—were tried under sections of the Indian Penal Code, the 1946 Foreigners Act, and the 1956 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.