Bollywood choreographer arrested in human trafficking case

The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a 56-year-old choreographer for allegedly trafficking young women to Kenya, Bahrain and Dubai. The accused, who claims to have worked with several top film actors and choreographers, used to send the women abroad as dancers and later seize their passports and force them into prostitution, said the police.

Agnes Hamilton,  who also has her dance class, reportedly sent female dancers abroad in the pretext of dance assignments. She then threatened and forced them into the sex trade. Crime branch’s anti-extortion cell booked her under sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

This act came into the limelight only after the Kenyan Government deported a woman back to India who was sent by Agnes in the pretext of an assignment. A daily newspaper further reports that she would get Rs 40,000 everytime she would send a woman from India to places like Kenya, Bahrain or Dubai.

Ajay Sawant, the senior inspector of the anti-extortion cell, was quoted by the daily saying, “The woman said Hamilton told her she would get good work in a Kenyan hotel. After reaching Kenya, though, one Razia Patel took her to Nairobi and forced her into prostitution. On the other hand, Dilip Sawant, deputy commissioner of police (crime) told, “The woman was found and she narrated her ordeal to them. They then recovered her passport from the accused and deported her to India.” Agnes also reportedly threatened to frame her in the fake narcotics offence case and take away her passport on denying what she is told to do by her.

Once the girls are sent abroad, their passports and visas are seized by the accused. She first sends them to a woman in Kenya, and from there they are sent to Kenya, Bahrain or Dubai where they are asked to dance in bars and, at times, also pushed into prostitution,’’ said Raju Surve, assistant police inspector of AEC.