‘Boys castrated, pushed into prostitution; 16-yr-old from Chennai latest victim’

Investigations reveal that Pune is emerging as a link between an inter-state gang of transgenders who castrate young boys and force them into prostitution.

This has come out after a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Chennai police visited Pune last week and arrested a 75-year-old surgeon, S Naganna, at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, for allegedly castrating a 16-year-old boy from Tamil Nadu at the behest of some transgenders. The boy had fled Pune from his captors .

The police team, however, returned to Chennai without making any arrest. The police say that transgenders had kidnapped the minor boy from Kovalam in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu in July 2006 and later forced him into the flesh trade in Pune’s red light area.

The boy escaped and reached his home last month and is now under treatment. He was found to have been castrated and is reported to be suffering from urinary complications.

Chennai CID Deputy Superintendent of Police Baluswamy told The Indian Express over phone, “Our team was looking for five persons, mostly transgenders, in Pune involved in forcing the boy into prostitution in Budhwar Peth area. So far, we have not arrested anyone from Pune. Investigations are on to find if there are more minor boys who have been castrated.”

Chennai police suspect that some transgenders in Pune are part of the racket. Meanwhile, the police have booked Dr Naganna for allegedly castrating the minor boy without his consent. Police have also invoked Section 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of Indian Penal Code against the surgeon.

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