Newz Desk, Durgapur: Two Class VI students from a girls’ school in West Bengal’s Malda district were rescued by police in Siliguri after allegedly being lured by an online grooming network that promised to make them K-Pop idols in South Korea. Investigators suspect the case may be linked to an attempted cross-border human trafficking operation.
The two minors, who are close friends, left home on Tuesday morning claiming they were going to school. Instead, they travelled towards Siliguri, reportedly acting on instructions received from individuals they had befriended on social media. When the girls failed to return home, their families filed missing persons’ complaints at the Englishbazar Police Station. Malda Police immediately alerted the Siliguri Metropolitan Police, sharing the girls’ descriptions with police stations across the city. Acting on the alert, police traced the girls near Jalpai More under the New Jalpaiguri Police Station limits before they could proceed further towards the India-Bhutan border.
During counselling, the girls reportedly told police that they had come in contact with a woman identifying herself as “Dighi Sarkar” on the social media platform Pinterest. According to investigators, the woman gradually gained their trust by promising them professional training and a career as K-Pop performers in South Korea.
Police said the girls had been encouraged to learn the Korean language and culture and were later added to an online group named “Demons”, where they allegedly received travel instructions and destination details. The girls believed they would first travel to Bhutan before continuing their journey to South Korea.
Investigators now suspect the accused intended to assemble several minor girls in Siliguri before taking them to Jaigaon in Alipurduar district and then moving them across the border into Bhutan. The counselling sessions further revealed that at least four other minor girls may have been contacted by the same network. Police have launched an investigation to identify those behind the alleged online grooming racket, verify the identity of the woman who approached the girls, and trace other potential victims. The rescued girls were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Malda on Wednesday for further counselling and rehabilitation procedures.
Child rights activists have expressed concern over the growing use of social media platforms by traffickers to target minors. Social activist Rishi Kant warned that criminal networks are increasingly exploiting children’s fascination with K-Pop, foreign travel and online fame to manipulate and recruit them.
He urged parents, schools and law enforcement agencies to strengthen cyber safety awareness and educate children about the risks of online grooming to prevent similar incidents.
