Jaipur: Police’s crime branch Wednesday arrested a fugitive accused of running an interstate marriage racket that trafficked girls and women and extorted lakhs of rupees from men in western Rajasthan.Police identified the accused as Bhanwarlal Sharma, who ran an organised network that brought economically vulnerable girls from West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand to Rajasthan on the promise of marriage or employment.
According to police, the girls were then “married” to men in border districts of western Rajasthan in exchange for large sums of money. After a brief period, the gang allegedly extorted money by threatening to implicate the men in rape cases.Police said Sharma operated the network for several years. Police records show he has a long criminal history dating back to 2005. Cases are registered against him at multiple police stations — including Sanganer Sadar, Sadar Jaipur, Shyam Nagar, Gandhi Nagar Ajmer, Kekri City and Gida (Balotra) — on charges of kidnapping, extortion, fraud, and offences under Arms Act. tnn
