Code words such as 'Item’, ‘Cassette’ and ‘Material' are the current buzzwords in the flesh trade. And these passwords are regularly updated am-ong regular customers, for obvious reasons.
The Cubbon Park police happened to unscramble many such ‘codes’ after they busted a ‘high-tech’ prostitution racket on Thursday.
Six girls and 11 pimps were arrested in the raid. Around Rs 10 lakh worth vehicles, Rs 17,150 in cash and dozens of mobile phones were confiscated from them.

Spot ‘selection’
Those familiar with the code get in touch with the pimps and once the identity is confirmed, the lucrative customers are asked to come to ‘designated’ spots to take a look at the girls.
The gang dump the girls in vans and, after fixing the price, the customers take the girls in their own vehicles.
The girls usually get into the client’s vehicle at evening and early morning; they are dropped back at certain points (usually fun parks, Lalbagh gate, etc).
The business gets into full swing after 7 pm. Malleswaram and Vidyaranyapura are the major ‘hideouts’ of the gang.

On contract
The gangs house the girls on the City outskirts and ‘rotate’ them every fortnight. Usually, they are taken on 15-days contract and each girl earns around Rs 14,000.
Most of the girls are from Kolkata, Kerala, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.
On many occasions, rich youngsters who tap the pimps land in trouble.
The gangs take them to remote areas, beat them up, snatch their valuables and vanish. Most victims, of course, do not complain to the police.
The arrested are: Prakash Gowda (24), Devaraj alias Parashuram (22), Nagaraj alias Narayan Swamy (27), Madhu alias Manje Gowda (22), Raju alias Puttaswamy (23), Anil alias Seenaiaha (20), Suresh Gowda (24), Salman alias Feroz Khan (24), Jabiullaha alias Basha Saab (26), Nanjegowda (24), Deepa (19), Deepika (19), Reshma (23), Manu (19), Bhavani (27), Ranjani (20) and Ravi alias Puttegowda (24).

Let off easily
“Look at the irony, we struggle and crack the case and produce them in court but they are fined and let off. At the most, the culprits will be behind bars for two to three days,” said a senior officer.
“I strongly feel at least the pimps should get severe punishment,” he added.