Lid blown off sleaze racket, eight arrested

KOLKATA: Eight persons, including two sex workers, were arrested from a posh residential area in central Kolkata on Monday in connection with a sleaze racket.
The immoral trafficking section of the detective department of Kolkata Police busted a sleaze racket and arrested eight persons, including two sex workers, from a posh residential area in central Kolkata on Monday.The accused were produced in court.
"We had information that some people were running a sleaze racket from a rented apartment on Middleton Street," said Pallab Kanti Ghosh, the joint commissioner of police (crime). "We raided the apartment and arrested eight people from the spot. The owner of the apartment is missing. We are looking for him."
According to detective department sources, the racket had been active for the last few months. "Unless we caught them red-handed, it would be very difficult for us to prove the charges. We received a tip-off on Monday and conducted the raid," said an investigating officer.
On Monday, we had that tip off. Accordingly, we raided the apartment and caught them red handed," an investigating officer said.
The arrested eight are Paresh Giri, 43, Ashoke Mondal, 53, Mantu Mahapatra, 48, Prakash Das, 26, two businessmen and two women. "The two businessmen arrested from the apartment are customers and were being entertained by the two women. Three others, Giri, Mondal and Mahapatra, are procurers and were the main people behind running this sex racket. During investigation, we found Giri and Mondal had been arrested earlier on the same charge. After getting out, they got involved in the same crime. Parakash Das was door-keeper and we are looking into whether he was also involved in procuring girls and running the racket," Ghosh said.
Refusing to disclose details of customers and the sex workers, Ghosh said, "The sex workers are mainly from South 24 Parganas and are floating". An officer of the detective department said, "The entire operation was arranged over phone. The customers are given a time. Hence, the sex workers arrive at that time, get entertained and leave. Naturally, it was very hard for us to trace the racket."
The eight were produced in court where Giri, Mondal, Mahapatra and Das were remanded in police custody for four days while the other four secured bail. "They have been charged under sections 3, 4 5,6, and 7 of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act," Ghosh said.