All language subtitles for Asias Underworld s02e06 Begging Syndicates.eng

Giving money to beggars has been
seen as a way to help the poor.

In some cultures,
it's seen as a religious obligation.

But things have changed.

Criminal syndicates have
hijacked the act of begging

and turned it into a profitable business.

These syndicates have ensured that every
coin placed in the palms of a beggar

ends up in the coffers of
a hidden criminal empire.

Annapoorneshwari temple, Bangalore, India.

On festive occasions,

the temple can see thousands
of devotees in a single day.

In 2008,

this holy place
was the location of a mystery

involving a 3-year-old girl, Ashwini.

Ashwini's mysterious disappearance
left her family confused and distraught.

As Ashwini's family was trying to solve
the mystery of the missing child,

the city's police were facing
the opposite problem,

the mysterious appearance of
children who didn't seem to belong.

Police in Bangalore were
noticing a strange increase

in the number of child beggars
on the streets.

Many didn't look local.

Some couldn't even speak
the local dialect.

Then, investigations in
other parts of India

revealed a disturbing form
of criminal activity...

...criminals were kidnapping children,

and using violence to force them
to beg on behalf of the criminal gang.

Bangalore's police were convinced that

their city had also been infested
with begging syndicates.

Children would like to study,

go to schools like their peers,
like to play.

For them to be forced into the streets,
that's an element of coercion,

that coercion maybe through beatings,

maybe through starvation,

maybe through other unnatural methods
forced by the exploiters.

Police were determined to crack down.

But if word got out, the
syndicates would flee,

taking the kidnapped children with them.

Police needed to round up the city's
begging syndicates in a single day

before any could raise the alarm.

For that, they turned to the city's NGOs,

their eyes and ears on the ground.

Working together,

they formulated a plan
codenamed Operation Rakshane.

Operation Rakshane,

one of the defining features was secrecy,

element of discreetness
that we maintained about it.

Though several meetings were held,

though a lot of planning was done...

Generally, not many people came
to know about it outside the circle

The media was generally
not kept in the loop

because if there was a slightest leak
about this particular planned operation,

many things would have gone wrong.

With the city's criminals in the dark,

police operated along a three-step plan.

Step one.

Identify the child beggars,
so they could be rescued rapidly on D-day.

For this, police activated
29 teams of police and volunteers.

For nearly one and a half month,
they did a survey.

How many children are there in
which corner and how they came.

And, who are the parents,
or the guardians or the handlers.

Who comes with them,

at what time they come
and what time they go.

And whatever begging amount is there,

to whom they give,

where they get food
and what language they speak.

Step two.

Identify the criminals,

so they could be arrested on D-day

before they had time
to raise the alarm or flee.

Trained operatives from NGOs
tailed the child beggars

when they handed in their takings.

They can find out whether
they are held by a gang

or they are part of a family
that is indulging in begging.

You know, their sleep
patterns, where they sleep,

the food that they are given,
how they are housed.

Step three.

Gather evidence so the criminals
could be charged in court.

With the child beggary if
we have to do a rescue,

we need photographs of
the child was seen begging,

and collecting and receiving money.

Finally, after weeks of
gathering information,

police launched a two-pronged attack
against the begging syndicates.

Volunteers were tasked
with rescuing the child beggars.

The surveillance operators were
there on the field reporting,

"Alright in this traffic light signal,
there are four children."

So then the rescue vehicle
will come up and rescue them,

then they would move
on to the next point.

One is near this bus stand,
there are eight children.

They kept reporting to us

so we knew for sure,
it was not a hit and miss,

it was a definite target
that we were moving towards

and we knew that they were there.

Meanwhile,
police went after the criminals.

When these NGOs were busy rescuing
the kids and the victims,

the police was busy picking up
the perpetrators.

Since the handlers many of them have
been identified in the surveys earlier,

and the police knew what to strike
and how to strike that with precision

and many of these people who were
handling these children were picked up.

Cases were put against them
in police stations,

they were arrested, put
in police custody,

interrogated, questioned,
and finally, sent to judicial custody.

The begging syndicates
were so extensive that

even after weeks of work,

police still found themselves
in unexpected situations.

Gouthami was one of the
child beggars picked up,

but there was no information

on whether she was being held
by a syndicate.

As she was being interviewed
by welfare officers,

a couple turned up,
claiming to be her parents.

The husband and wife had turned up
with a photograph of the child,

with a ration card
with the child's name in it

and with all the documents necessary
for the release of her child.

And the grandmother also had come.

But this child
was very hesitant to go back.

So, when we started questioning
the child and said,

"Who is this man?
Is he really your father?"

Then the child broke down and said,

"No, he is actually not my father"

and along with me, he's got 25 girls,

whom he uses just for this.

The information caught police off guard.

They didn't have enough evidence
to detain the couple.

Yet if the couple were to
reach their child beggars,

they would grab them and skip town.

Police had to find the children
before the couple got there.

But the children were kept in a tent,

among the 650,000
slum dwellers in Bangalore.

Even with Gauthami's help,
finding them was a difficult task.

After a desperate search
near the railway line,

police finally located the children.

These were kids
who were sleeping in a plastic tent.

The temperature outside was about,
maybe 16 degrees to 18 degrees at night

and they didn't even have a blanket.

One of these kids have urinated
and she was sleeping in the same urine.

If a stray dog have
entered and mauled them,

there was not even an adult in that tent.

Back at the station,
the children gave their statements.

Thanks to the children's testimony
and evidence from the raid,

the couple was arrested and charged.

The operation was a success.

300 children were rescued from the
clutches of begging syndicates.

As far as possible they were
reunited with their families,

but parents would soon find that

their children were not
what they remembered.

In 2011,

Bangalore's police cracked
down on begging syndicates,

rescuing 300 child beggars

and arresting those who had
forced them into begging.

The operation was a media sensation,

with its success broadcast to
viewers around the world,

including the family of Ashwini.

Three years after her mysterious
disappearance, there was hope.

Ashwini's family took her home
to begin the slow process of recovery.

There were many stories
of rescued child beggars

being reunited with their families.

In one case,

a family traveled nearly 500 kilometers
to be reunited with their children.

Investigations into how these children

had ended up begging in Bangalore,

revealed an underground supply chain
supporting the begging syndicates.

It all starts with acquiring the product,
children.

There will be procurers
who will be on the lookout,

where can we procure such children from,

whose absence
will not make that much of a dent?

The second layer in this racket
would be the transporters,

who generally transport the children,
say long trains,

along buses,

even along using private vehicles,

they'll be transported
to the points of transit

or to the points of destination.

In the big cities,

begging syndicates buy the children
at less than 10 dollars per head.

Mada has been a member of
one such syndicate for 15 years.

Mada's preparation meant giving
the children a twisted makeover.

In the begging industry, pathetic sells.

Children are fed the bare minimum
so they appear malnourished.

They're clothed in nothing but rags.

In extreme cases, they're even maimed.

I think when people say they
don't think children are maimed

or that children are you know,

purposely, that you know,
limbs or organs are broken.

That's not true because

I think they haven't come close enough
to see it.

We rescued a child
who told us very clearly that

the man took a hammer
and hit her on the wrist...

...and both her wrist are broken.

And there's nothing that can be done,

her hand just flops back and forth

and the bowl was place between her wrist
and she was send out for begging.

Once the children looked the part,

Mada started working on their attitudes.

Finally, it was time for Mada
to maximize the return on his investment.

Mada's 15 children were
making him in a day

more than what the average
Indian earns in a month.

And Mada wasn't even one of the
big boys of begging syndicates.

The money is large, it's huge.

So, this is just one man, imagine a gang,

imagine when they have
60 children or 100 children

or imagine when they are dealing
with thousands of children.

Which is the case with gangs
operating across states...

...and not within a particular region.

To a begging syndicate,
children are a good investment.

Easily intimidated and evoking sympathy,

they make tens of millions of dollars
every year for their criminal masters.

But police have also found
begging syndicates using babies

that are too young to even walk,
let alone beg.

Their investigations have revealed

a terrible new twist
in the begging syndicate story.

In India, begging is big business.

It's so big that children are kidnapped
and forced to beg by syndicates,

whose members live off their earnings.

So, in 2008,

crime reporter Akanksha Mehrotra
decided to go undercover.

We got to know
from our local contacts that

you know, there is a begging
mafia that operates in Bangalore

and there's a lot that is happening
under the cover with nobody is aware of.

We thought to venture into it
and do some kind of investigation,

so through a local contact,

we went to places like where
there are big temples,

where you know, on a daily basis,
you see a number of beggars with children

so we thought, let's give it a shot.

In the guise of a beggar,

Akanksha managed to make about
three times the minimum wage.

But then she noticed that beggars
with babies were making even more.

So, Akanksha decided
to get a baby of her own.

We found a lady with a child

so we just talk to her and convinced
her to give the child to us

at a very petty amount of rupees 50.

The operation lasted for about an hour,

and in that time I had earned
about 100 rupees from the temple.

I feel that if
I were to have begged on my own

and there was no baby along with me,

I would have not able to make
that amount in an hour's time.

Akanksha made nearly double the
amount of money with the baby,

and managed to pay off
the baby's rental in just half an hour.

She had just discovered
why begging syndicates

kept a ready supply of babies.

These children are not kept well,

they are you know, not fed well

and the state of these
children is like not good.

If this child is unfed,
he is not being treated well,

it will get the sympathy of people around

and they will be more than willing
to help the child

and the beggar who is carrying the child.

Some begging syndicates
rent out babies by the hour.

Other syndicates own
several of their own,

which they share among their beggars.

The child looked okay
but he was not crying at all.

This is maybe because he has been
through this you know, on a regular basis

where you know, begging mafia
is involved and on day to day basis

the child is being rented out,

so he is used to and
comfortable with strangers

you know, taking him out on the streets
and begging at signals.

But there's another theory
for the compliant babies.

You'll be surprised to find any lady

who is carrying a child for begging,
they don't cry.

Have you noticed that?

They keep on sleeping.

They're always... their eyes are closed
because they are drugged.

They're given cough syrup,
they're given alcohol,

if a child started crying,
that lady who's carrying cannot feed.

Because she is not the original mother.

That's the worse part in child beggary.

India continues to battle
the begging syndicates.

The authorities are encouraging the public
to give money to reputable charities

rather than directly to beggars.

They hope that this will cut off
the revenue of the begging syndicates,

and eventually end their operations.

Never ever give money
to any lady or any man,

who is showing a child
and asking for alms.

Please do not, because you do not know

you are encouraging
the exploitation of child there.

At the same time,
law enforcers are doing their part too.

The punishment for using children
for beggary, forced beggary,

ranges up to 10 years legal imprisonment

in Indian jails for the racketeers,
if proved.

So, whenever we see a child
on a street begging,

the child doesn't need our pity.

He needs our help.

The aim and objective of law enforcement,
at least in India,

is to ensure complete security
and safety of children

without any kind of lack or hindrance.

If we find any kind of maleficent
or malafide behaviors,

obstructing the safety of a child,

then the police would come down
very hard on them from every direction.

From prosecution,
from investigation side,

from seizing the proceeds
and seeing to it

that these networks,

that these racketing
never comes back again.

And the child is properly
safely restituted

towards proper place in society.

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