Ethiopian girls ‘rescued’ from Military Intelligence Officials house

New Delhi, March 21: Two Ethiopian girls “rescued” this morning by a television channel team from the house of a Military Intelligence (MI) official in Delhi Cantonment where they had been allegedly “illegally detained” added a twist to the tale by telling South West District police that they had come to the official’s residence of their own accord.

However, police booked Samarawit (19) and Rehal (23) under the Foreigners Act after discovering that the girls who had come to India on a six-month business visa in June 2006 had overstayed. “At first we suspected that they might have been sexually assaulted so we sent them to Safdarjang Hospital for a medical examination but they refused,” a senior police officer said. Police officials said the girls could barely speak English.

Samarawit and Rehal were picked up in the morning from the P-10 Shankar Vihar, Defence Enclave residence of Army Major Rajeev Siroha after a television crew which was in the area inquiring about the two girls spotted a police team. “Our men were there on a routine job. The television crew came to them and informed that two girls had been illegally detained,” a senior South West District police official said.

The two girls were brought to the Delhi Cantonment police station but they insisted they had gone to Siroha’s residence on their own. “They have given us a statement that they had not been harassed by anybody,” a senior police officer said.

Senior MI officials reached the spot and said the girls were part of a secret operation and had been picked up by Military Intelligence for questioning in a drug smuggling case. Samarawit and Rehal told police they had gone to the Pegs and Pints pub in Chanakyapuri last night and were brought to Siroha’s house past midnight. “It is for the MI to sort out what exactly happened,” a senior police officer said.

The girls told police they had met an Indian in Ethiopia, adding: “He asked us to come to India from where he promised he would send us to USA. But after we came here the man disappeared. The man claimed that he represented a Hyderabad-based NGO.”