The police rescued 12 girls

A huge marriage racket, involving minor girls, has been busted in India's Hyderabad with the arrest of eight Omani and Qatari nationals and 12 Indians including qazis, police said on Wednesday.

The arrested qazis include the chief qazi of Mumbai Farid Ahmed Khan. Four lodge owners and five brokers of Hyderabad have also been held.



City Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy told reporters that minor girls were being married off with the help of brokers, qazis and lodge owners. Of those arrested, five are Omani nationals and three Qatari.



The racket, which was spreading from Hyderabad to Oman and other Arab countries, was busted during the investigation into a case registered last month in Falaknuma area of the old city of Hyderabad.

Police said the arrests were made when the sheikhs aged between 50 and 60 were about to marry girls aged between 15 and 17 years at some lodges in the old city of Hyderabad.

A woman had complained to the police that her husband with the help of some brokers 'sold' their minor daughter to a 70-year-old Omani national Ahmed Abdullah. The girl is stuck in Oman.

The police chief said efforts were on to rescue the girl and arrest the accused and bring them to Hyderabad.