Who is Sonu Punjaban? Delhi's biggest sex racketeer who has been jailed for 24 years
Sonu Punjaban, who has been tipped as Delhi's biggest sex racketeer, has been sentenced to 24 years in jail by Delhi's Dwarka District Court. Her accomplice, Sandeep Bedwal, so was also known to be involved in her hideous acts, has been awarded a jail term of 20 years.
You may remember Sonu Punjaban's character from the movie Fukrey. The character in the movie was named Bholi Punjaban but was loosely based on the life of Sonu Punjaban. The character in the movie was played by Richa Chaddha.
Who is Sonu Punjaban?
Sonu Punjaban A.K.A Geeta Arora, is known to be the most notorious player ever in Delhi's illegal human and sex trafficking scene. Born in 1981, Sonu Punjaban is believed to have run Delhi's biggest sex racket with the help of a deep nexus of gangsters in and around the national capital.
It is believed that Sonu Punjaban became known across Delhi-NCR at a very early age and had relationships with several gangsters some of them died in encounters with the police.
Several high profile businessmen and aspiring models and actresses where in her network of customers and employees.
"She had married gangster Hemant Sonu and took Sonu from his name after he was killed in an encounter. Sonu changed tracks in life after she fell in love with gangster Vijay Singh, a close aide of gangster Shri Prakash Shukla. Singh was gunned down by UP's STF in Garh Mukteshwar in 2003 soon after they got married. Her next boyfriend, Deepak, was shot down as well in Assam. Deepak's brother, Hemant Sonu, gave her a helping hand and stood by her. Soon, they got married. Hemant got involved in a high-profile double murder case that got cops on his trail. In March 2006, Hemant was killed by Special Cell on the Delhi-Gurugram border," reports Times of India.
Sonu Punjaban was arrested by the police in 2017.
The Case Against Sonu Punjaban
In 2014, a case was registered against Sonu Punjaban in Delhi's Najafgarh Police Station. In the chargesheet it was mentioned that Sonu Punjaban, along with her six close aides forced a minor girl into prostitution.
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police later took over the investigation and soon booked Sonu Punjaban under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The minor girl in question helped the police arrest Sonu Punjaban in a cat and mouse game that went on for about 3 years.
Conviction
Now, Sonu Punjaban has been sentenced to 24 years in jail. Sonu Punjaban has been convicted for commission of offences such as procuration of minor, slavery, selling and buying minors for prostitution, poisoning, wrongful confinement and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and sections of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
Whereas, Sandeep Bedwal has been convicted for kidnapping, procuration of minor, slavery, selling minors for prostitution, rape and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.
