Bengaluru Police rescued 13 minors allegedly forced to beg at traffic signals and arrested four people (File photo for representative use).The Bengaluru police Monday arrested four people from Bihar and Maharashtra for allegedly forcing 13 children to beg at traffic signals across Bengaluru. Authorities have rescued the children and handed them over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for further action.The Central Crime Branch (CCB) Women Protection Wing, along with the Social Welfare Department, carried out the rescue operation after receiving a tip-off from the CWC. Acting on the information, a joint team raided makeshift huts erected on the footpath beneath a flyover near Kogilu Cross, within the limits of the Yelahanka police station.According to the police, those taken into custody include Karthik, 45, who currently resides in Bengaluru, his son, and two other men identified as Mukesh and Subhash, both from Maharashtra.The 13 rescued children, comprising nine boys and four girls, were allegedly deployed to beg at various traffic intersections across the city.The suspects claimed that the children belonged to them and asserted that five women present at the site were their wives. The police said they have not yet verified these claims.They found the children with the adults, with roughly three to four children associated with each man. Investigators are working to establish how the children came into the custody of the group, the duration of the adults’ stay in Bengaluru, and whether any biological relationship exists between the adults and the minors.Also Read | To check Trafficking, exploitation: Punjab orders DNA tests on child beggars, adults with them to determine parentage“A case has been registered at Yelahanka police station, and the children have been produced before the CWC. The committee is yet to submit its report. The claims made by the adults regarding their relationship with the children need to be verified through address checks and other procedures, including DNA testing,” a senior police officer said.Story continues below this adThe CWC will examine the living conditions and circumstances of the rescued children and try to trace their biological parents. Also, the police are investigating potential child exploitation networks and determining the exact means by which the minors were brought to Bengaluru.