Nine girls, sold to red-light areas in Mumbai and Pune, were brought back to the city by the police on Sunday.

Of the nine, two are from Mograhat, two from Joynagar, one is from Canning, one from Sonarpur and one from Baruipur (all South 24-Parganas). One each is from Bangladesh and Bhutan.

?We had received a complaint about a missing girl and had arrested a suspect, Sheikh Monajat. He revealed an address in Mumbai where the girl could be found,? said South 24-Parganas police superintendent S.N. Gupta.

A five-member police team left for Mumbai on November 17 and came in contact with an NGO, which had rescued the girl and eight others, all between 16 and 25 years, superintendent Gupta added.

About seven months ago, Abdul Sheikh?s daughter had gone missing from Hatpara, in Joynagar. After a frantic search by friends and relatives proved futile, Abdul lodged a complaint with Joynagar police station.

He even named Monajat, a local resident, as the person whom he suspected of having kidnapped his daughter.

Monajat was picked up immediately and during interrogation, revealed that the girl had been taken to a red-light area in Mumbai. The address he mentioned was Tera number galli (lane no. 13), Kamatipura, Mumbai.

On reaching the spot, the police team was redirected to the NGO, Rescue Foundation. The NGO officials told the cops that they had rescued nine girls from brothels in Mumbai and Pune and were providing shelter to them.

Foundation president Balakrishna Acharya said the girls were from Bengal and its bordering countries.

The police team recognised the girl it was looking for in the group of nine.

Accompanied by Santosh Serai, a representative of the NGO, the team brought the girls to Calcutta.

Police superintendent Gupta said the victims, except for the two from Bangladesh and Bhutan ? who want to join a women?s home in the city ? will be sent back to their parents after the formalities.

?In the past two years, we have rescued at least 200 girls from red-light areas in Mumbai and Pune,? Serai said. ?Many of them had been trafficked from Bengal, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.?