Kochi: A continuous stream of UPI payments, a deceptive family friend persona, and a mobile phone packed with photos of young women have exposed 42-year-old Sreekumar S, alias ‘Bilal’, as the crucial ground-level recruiter for the Dubai sex trafficking syndicate in Kochi. The remand report submitted before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-VIII, Ernakulam, highlights Sreekumar as the prime operational link who lured unsuspecting victims from Kerala directly into a brutal prostitution ring operating in Dubai.
The investigation, led by Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner of Police Suresh KG, found that Sreekumar, a native of Charummood in Alappuzha who was living in a flat in Kaniyampuzha in Kochi’s Eroor North, used his trusted status to trap targets. Operating under the friendly nickname ‘Bilalikka’, he personally visited the complainant’s house to convince her family that highly-paying modelling and makeup artist opportunities awaited her abroad through a Dubai-based event management company called Elissza Events.
Sreekumar’s deep involvement in the racket’s daily operations became clear through a digital and financial paper trail uncovered by the police.
According to the confession of the prime accused, Stoicy alias Sindhu (56), who owned the Dubai front company, Sreekumar was paid a fixed financial commission based entirely on a ‘headcount’ system for every young woman he managed to traffic into the UAE. Forensic analysis of Sindhu’s bank accounts backed up this confession, revealing multiple money transfers to Sreekumar’s bank account via UPI.
Furthermore, a digital sweep of the seized mobile phones of co-accused Manjima P (25) and Aleena Abraham (23) showed that Sreekumar’s phone number was saved across the network under his deceptive moniker, Bilalikka, proving his central role as their primary contact.
The harrowing timeline shows how quickly Sreekumar transitioned from a trusted family friend into an active trafficker. After introducing the complainant and the third accused, Manjima, to Sindhu, Sreekumar personally escorted the victim, apart from Manjima, and the second accused, Shamla, to Dubai on February 20 this year. They travelled together on visiting visas and flight tickets pre-arranged and paid for by Sindhu.
The moment they landed in Dubai, the traps Sreekumar helped set slammed shut. Sindhu intercepted the victim at the airport, immediately confiscating her passport and mobile phone. The young woman was then taken and held in illegal confinement in Room No. 607 of the Al Salam Apartments on Rolla Street in Bur Dubai. Over a horrific two-month period spanning from mid-February to April 17, the victim was subjected to systematic torture.
Police said the accused forcefully spiked her soft drinks with an unknown white intoxicating powder. While she was left heavily sedated and semi-conscious, she was repeatedly sold to various men for sex work. Manjima and Aleena acted as the room managers, collecting the cash up front before inviting ‘clients’ into the room to gang-rape the victim.
To completely break her spirit and secure blackmail material, Sindhu video-recorded the sexual assaults on a mobile phone and sent the graphic visuals via WhatsApp to the victim’s husband, who was in Saudi Arabia, as well as to her other relatives, causing immense public defamation to silence her. When the victim tried to resist, Shamla physically brutalised her using a cane-like stick, while the fifth accused, Rehmath, subjected her to severe physical and mental torture, threatening to murder her if she ever approached the police. The victim was sent back to Kerala only after the expiration of her visit visa.
Sreekumar’s direct involvement became clear following his arrest by Ernakulam police on Thursday around 8:30 pm after he was taken into custody from his Kaniyampuzha flat. During a raid on his premises, investigators seized his mobile phone, which is now in custody for detailed forensic analysis. A preliminary examination of the device recovered an alarming digital trove: numerous photographs of various young women in different postures, alongside active WhatsApp chats detailing their transit and exploitation.
During intensive police interrogation, Sreekumar broke down and admitted to investigators that he had trafficked several other young women to Dubai using the same modus operandi, prompting the police to expect a wave of additional complaints from more victims.
With Sreekumar now remanded to 14 days of judicial custody alongside co-accused Sindhu, Manjima and Aleena, the police are actively opposing any chance of bail. Given Sreekumar’s massive financial backing, multiple active SIM cards, and deep operational ties to an international sex racket, authorities have told the court that his release would pose an immediate threat of witness intimidation, potentially forcing the traumatised complainant to withdraw the case.
Meanwhile, a massive hunt remains underway to track down the two absconding accused, Shamla and Rehmath, who are believed to be hiding in Dubai.
