At least 20 people, including five Omani and three Qataris sheikhs and three qazis, were arrested in an international child bride racket which was busted in Hyderabad late on Tuesday. Twelve minors were saved from the sheikhs in the city.
A chief qazi from Mumbai, Farid Ahmed Khan, was the kingpin who arranged for the marriage contracts with forged nikahnamas.
Meanwhile, another racket in the Old City was unveiled after a reluctant 16-year-old girl revealed about her interview with a 50-year-old sheikh for marriage.
Based on her tip-off, police visited four lodges in the city only to find that these places acted as dens for human trafficking. The investigators even caught an Omani sheikh, who was about to get married to a teen girl, late on Tuesday. Reports say that police arrested five middlemen and four hotel owners.
About the kingpin
The qazi, Farid Ahmed Khan, 63, usually charged Rs 70,000 to provide forged nikahnamas and other certificates to brokers, police said and added that he played an important role in international human trafficking, according to the Times of India.
Hyderabad Police held a joint operation with Mumbai Police and arrested him. During interrogation, he revealed that he had provided fake marriage certificates to clients across the country.
The plot
While probing the child bride case where a 16-year-old Rukhsar was married to a 65-year-old sheikh, police got to know that her marriage certificate was issued in Mumbai.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) V Satyanarayana said that in order to avail a visa, the couple should approach the state minority affairs department and apply for a No Objection Certificate (NOC). In this case, the certificate was issued in Mumbai.
When police contacted the girl's family, they found out that the marriage took place at Pahadisharif dargah on May 16.
Sheikh's family denies allegations
Acting on the clues, police recently sent a special team to Mumbai. Police said that they located the sheikh's office in Bhendi Bazaar in Mumbai, where they got to know that several marriages were held by forging documents.
They also found rubber stamps to forge documents that were needed for going to Gulf countries.
But Farid Ahmed Khan's family denies the allegations by saying that he was a certified qazi since 1975 and that his father used to translate nikahnama from Urdu to English and also verifies certificates when people approach them.
