Ten tribal girls of Odisha's Malkangiri district, who had been taken to Bengaluru and Chennai by a middleman on the pretext of lucrative jobs, have been rescued and brought back here, police said on Tuesday.
The tribal girls, aged between 13 and 16 years, were rescued from Bengaluru railway station by a special police team of Malkangiri and brought back here on Monday, inspector in charge of Malkangiri police station Ramakrushna Pati said.
The girls, who hailed from Nalagunti, Sudhakonda and Telrai areas of Malkangiri district, had been taken by the middleman on January 19, he said adding the police team was sent to rescue them following an information by Bangalore police who spotted the girls at the station.
The girls were produced before District Children Welfare Committee after their return and sent for medical examination.
The parents of the girls have been informed about the development, Pati said. Narrating their experience, the girls told the police that they had been kept in a room and not given proper food.
They were being shifted to some other place from Bengaluru when the local police spotted them at the railway station and then informed Malkangiri police.
Bengaluru police arrested one middleman, Balleya of Bhadrachalam in Andhra pradesh, while efforts were on to nab another person, he said. District Children welfare committee president has been informed about the incident.