Sex racket busted in Shimla; 8 held

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, November 18

The police on Saturday busted an interstate flesh trade racket and arrested eight persons — six girls and the manager and the caretaker of a massage centre — from The Mall area. The racket was being run from the massage centre situated 200 m from the police reporting room.

Following a tip-off that immoral activities are being carried out at the centre, the police sent a decoy customer there to arrest the culprits red-handed. An electronic audio devise was fixed in the clothes of the decoy customer so that policemen in civvies standing outside could hear the conversation and conduct a raid accordingly.

The police also recovered money, including international currency, from the girls allegedly paid by the decoy customer.

The raid was conducted in the presence of Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order) Prabha Rajiv and DSP, headquarters, Pramod Shukla.

Out of the six girls, one is from Thailand, three from Manipur and two from Delhi. The girls have been sent to Nari Nikaten in Shimla.

A case under Sections 3 and 4 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, had been registered, said DSP, city, Dinesh Sharma who conducted the raid.

The police said interstate links of the racket were being probed. The manager, the caretaker and staff members of the centre were being interrogated to know how these girls came to Shimla.

According to information, online sex rackets are also flourishing in Shimla. An intensive search on Internet made shocking revelations that there are more than 200 sites offering call girls and escort services for tourists and residents in the state.

A total of 42 cases have been registered against 151 persons, including 46 females, under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, in the past five-and-a-half year. The maximum number of case were reported from Kullu (10), followed by Kangra (nine) and Shimla (six.)

Was being run from massage centre

Following a tip-off that immoral activities are being carried out at a massage centre in The Mall area, the police sent a decoy customer there to arrest the culprits red-handed. An electronic audio devise was fixed in the clothes of the decoy customer so that policemen in civvies standing outside could hear the conversation and conduct a raid accordingly.