Krishnagar, July 16: A 20-year-old daily-wage earner has done what the police could not.

Uttam Jana of Midnapore, who works in a jewellery shop in Pune, rescued a 19-year-old from a brothel in the city a week ago.

The girl from Nadia, who has studied up to Class IV, was reunited with her mother yesterday at Krishnagunj, about 110 km from Calcutta.

Uttam first met the girl last month at a hotel-cum- brothel where he had gone as a customer. “I requested Uttam to rescue me from the dungeon,” she recounted.

“After taking her out from the place last week, I boarded a local train from Pune to reach Mumbai. From there, we took a Howrah-bound train,” Uttam said.

The girl, who had gone to Mumbai in December with a neighbour who promised to get her a job, said she was raped several times during her confinement.

When the neighbour, Nikhil Biswas, offered to get the girl a job in Mumbai last December, her widowed mother readily agreed because she needed money. “I earned very little working as a domestic help,” Deepali Mandol said.

“But I could not get in touch with her ever since she was taken to Mumbai,” said.

Deepali approached police for help in January but they turned a blind eye.

She then went up to additional sessions judge Kalpana Dey at a legal awareness camp at Krishnagunj in the same month.

After the judge stepped in, police officers picked up Nikhil from his Krishnagunj residence and left for Mumbai with him.

But they returned empty-handed and submitted a report to the court that the girl could not be traced. As a result, Nikhil was granted bail.

The girl said she was first employed in a garment factory in Mumbai and from there, Nikhil took her to the hotel in Pune. “After reaching the hotel, Nikhil slipped away.”

“Like all others, I was asked to entertain the men who visited the hotel-cum-brothel. I cried for help but they were unmoved,” she said.

The police said they would begin a fresh probe.