Four girls from Karnataka - one among them from Bangalore - have been rescued in Delhi on Friday when Delhi police conducted raids on a brothel on GB Road in the national capital.

Preliminary investigations by Delhi police revealed that the girls were forcibly pushed into flesh trade two years ago after being promised jobs in the national capital.

Among the rescued girls, two are minors. The names of the girls have been withheld to protect their identities.

An investigating officer from Delhi police said a brothel on GB Road was raided on Friday evening and from the several girls rescued, at least four were from Karnataka. “We informed the Bangalore police about the rescue of these four girls; and they are yet to come to Delhi to rehabilitate them,” said Pramod Joshi, Station head officer (SHO) of Delhi’s Kamala Market police, under the jurisdiction of which the said brothel is located and which conducted the raid.

The police said the girls were kept in inhuman conditions and forced to work as sex workers by some of the pimps. The girls were allegedly cheated into going to Delhi on a promise of getting jobs by a pimp identified only as Raju from Bangalore.

Interestingly, the Delhi police said Raju was the brother of one of the girls who is a student of a reputed college in Malleswaram in Bangalore.

The Delhi police have now sought help from Women and Narcotics Squad of Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bangalore to identify Raju, who is absconding.

Joshi told DNA, “We have arrested the owner of the brothel. It would take another 10-15 days to send the girls back to Bangalore for rehabilitation after all the procedures, like medical tests and statements, are completed.”

Bangalore’s Deputy commissioner of police (Crime), DM Krishnam Raju, confirmed the rescue of the four girls from Karnataka by the Delhi police in the national capital, and said, “A team of CCB officials will go to Delhi to bring them back.”

Two of the girls are natives of Hubli, while one is a native of Davanagere. “We feel there is a huge gang trafficking girls from Bangalore and forcing them into flesh trade across India, especially in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai,” said a police official in Bangalore.

The girl hailing from Bangalore has reportedly told the Delhi police that she was a resident of Yeshwanthpur. But when Bangalore police verified her residential address, the present owner of the said house in which the Bangalore girl was staying, told the police that the girl’s family had vacated the house two years ago back (around the same time that she went to Delhi) and that no missing complaint was registered in any of the police stations in Bangalore, a police official told DNA.

The Delhi police have given the names and other details of the rescued girls to Bangalore police, which is still in the process of verifying the details of the girls. But they are also wary of the fact that people involved in flesh trade often give fake names.

Joshi, Delhi’s Kamala Market police SHO, said the rescued girls were questioned in the presence of members of Child welfare Committee (CWC) (as two of the girls are minors).Sources said a CCB team has already left for Delhi to bring the girls back. Once the girls are brought back to Bangalore, the police will locate their parents to rehabilitate the rescued girls, police officials said.