Krishnagar, Dec. 11: Two teenaged girls, allegedly sold by their poor widowed mothers to touts in Nadia, had a lucky escape from a Pune brothel last week.

The 13-year-olds were brought to Calcutta two days ago by police and are in a state-run home in Salt Lake.

Police sources said after the girls escaped from the brothel with help of some insiders, they approached the Pune police for help.

“We will shortly record the statements of the girls and produce them in Ranaghat court,” said R. Rajshekharan, Nadia police superintendent.

A police official said six months ago, three youths ' Ramesh Biswas, Santi Biswas and Subodh Biswas ' of Pepulberia village in Hanskhali, approached the girls’ mothers ' Rani Pahari and Kalpana Pahari ' who stayed in the same village, 70 km from Calcutta.

The trio told the women that they would get the daughters jobs as domestic helps in affluent houses in the state. The jobs would fetch them around Rs 3,000 a month and their daughters would regularly be in touch over telephone, they promised.

The youths paid a Rs 100 “advance” to the mothers and took the girls, who had never been to school, away in June.

When Rani and Kalpana did not hear from their daughters in July, they lodged a complaint with the police, who arrested the three youths.

“We waited for a month. When no phone call came, both of us grew suspicious and we contacted the police,” Rani said.

During interrogation it transpired that Ramesh had taken the girls to Pune and sold them to the brothel. The three claimed the girls were sold by their mothers for Rs 100 each.

This information could not be verified first as the mothers vehemently denied they had taken money.

Kalpana later admitted she was paid Rs 100 as an “advance” by the trio and promised that she would receive Rs 3,000 per month as soon as her daughter started to work. “But, I never imagined that I would sell my daughter,” she said.

The police are depending on the girls’ statements on whether they were sold by their mothers. “If the girls say they were sold off by their mothers' then we will initiate investigation against the mothers,” SP Rajshekharan said.