An AFP file picture of a silent protest against the Noida killings

Malda, Jan. 4: The arrest of Maya Sarkar in connection with the murder of children in Noida’s Nithari village has triggered a chain reaction here as the district police is trying to ascertain whether she was involved in a child-trafficking racket.

Maya, who used to work as a domestic help in the house of Mohinder Singh Pandher, the main accused in the serial killings of children, hails from Nalagola Purbagram in the Bamangola police station area here.

Police said she had left her village with her husband, Nitya Sarkar, 14 years ago and settled in Noida working as a domestic help in several households there.

Officer-in-charge of the Bamangola police station Anil Roy visited Maya’s home and questioned her relatives. He is expected to submit a report to Malda police superintendent Dilip Mondal.

“That she had been arrested was not known to her relatives, mostly brothers-in-law. Maya’s son stays here and studies in a local school in Class V. I have instructed the officer-in-charge to submit a list of missing children in the Bamangola and adjoining Gajole police station areas,” Mondol said.

A visit to the woman’s house revealed that Nitai’s elder son, Chiranjit, by his first wife, Golapi, also stays there. Neither he nor Maya’s son Prasenjit understands why the police is frequenting their house.

“I have read in the papers about the skeletons being found in Noida, but I cannot understand why my mother is being dragged into it,” said Prasenjit.

Police said they were also looking into why the two sons stayed in Malda and not in Noida. “We are providing the Uttar Pradesh police with all the information that we can get,” Roy said. He said efforts were also on to trace Golapi.