(Image source from: MSN.com)

Police have rescued 24 girls from a shelter home on Monday in a town in eastern Uttar Pradesh after allegations of their sexual exploitation came to light, news agency PTI reported.

A couple who were managers at the shelter home and its superintendent have been arrested.

Women and Child Welfare Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sent a high-level investigation team to the town for on-the-spot inquiry and asked them to prepare the report by tonight, The district magistrate has also been removed.

A total of 42 girls reportedly stay in the house, of which 18 are said to be missing. The home has been sealed. "Twenty-four girls were rescued yesterday from the shelter home that houses 42 inmates. Eighteen inmates are still missing. We have sealed it," PTI quoted a police official as saying.

The incident came to light after a girl escaped from there and intimated the police. "Many times white, black and red cars used to come and take away the girls. When they returned in the morning, they used to cry," the girl alleged.

By Sowmya Sangam