A horrifying case of human trafficking has emerged from the Phillobari area in Tinsukia district, Upper Assam, where an eight-and-a-half-year-old girl from a tea worker’s family allegedly sold outside the state for ₹1.5 lakh. The incident has exposed a trafficking network preying on vulnerable minors from tea garden communities.
The crime came to light after the rescue of three teenage girls from the Duarmara Singpho Tea Garden under Pengeri Police Station. Acting on a tip from the Adivasi Students’ Association, vigilant villagers intercepted a WagonR vehicle on November 4 that had come to pick up the girls. The driver, Dipak Phukan of Doomdooma Topoban, detained and handed over to police.
During interrogation, Phukan confessed that two men — Peter Sona and Umakanta Chetry alias Tike — had hired him for ₹8,000 to transport the girls to Harmoti in Lakhimpur district. The duo, posing as community leaders, had been luring families with false promises of better opportunities.
Investigations revealed that Peter Sona had long involved in trafficking women and minors from tea estates to other states, selling them for ₹50,000 to ₹1.5 lakh each. About five months ago, Sona and his aide Tike allegedly took away an eight-year-old girl from Phillobari, paying her parents ₹50,000 initially before reclaiming the money and disappearing with the child. The girl remains missing and believed to held by the traffickers outside Assam.
Mastermind Peter Sona remains absconding of Human Trafficking Case
In connection with the case, police have arrested six suspects — Umakanta Chetry, Peter Chakaria, Rohit Khadal, Ajit Munda, Dipak Phukan, and Bobby Deori, the wife of the prime accused. However, mastermind Peter Sona remains absconding.
The Pengeri Police have launched a massive manhunt to capture Sona and dismantle the entire network, which is suspected to be operating across multiple tea garden belts in Upper Assam. Officials fear that many minors may have already fallen victim to the gang over the years. The parents of the missing girl have made an emotional appeal to authorities to intensify rescue efforts and bring their daughter home safely.