A couple from Basheerabad mandal of RR district bought a girl for just Rs 250 from Mumbai and forced her to beg at the Tandur bus stand. Deccan Chronicle reports that the police have rescued the minor who was identified as 13-year-old Puja. According to the report, she had been begging for the last three months.

The report quotes Ranga Reddy SP Rema Rajeswari as saying the couple - V. Basamma and V. Ramulu - bought Puja in Mumbai while they were working there as labourers. Since she was an orphan, the girl didn't know anything about her parents and was sold off by an unknown person.

Basamma and Ramulu brought her back to Manthati village and made her do household work. Basheerabad SI G. Abhinava Chathurvedi told the daily that the couple later started sending her out to beg. She used to finish the housework in the morning and then go to the Tandur bus stand where she would beg till evening. The girl gave her earnings to the couple save the bus fare to the bus stand.

On January 7, the police reportedly got a tip-off and rescued the girl. The report adds that the police have now registered a case against the couple for human trafficking and forced labour and have arrested Basamma's father.

The Ranga Reddy police have rescued 300 children from forced labour and begging in the district and Puja was one of them.