Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB)'s Women Protection Wing has rescued 20 women trafficked from different parts of the country between October 1 and October 30, busting a prostitution racket in the city.
Of the rescued women, all aged between 25 and 30, four were from Bangladesh, 11 from West Bengal, one each from Telangana and Uttarakhand, and three from Karnataka, officials said. They belonged to poor families and were either high school or pre-university passouts.
The sleuths arrested 14 suspects — Manjunath alias Shanti, Pradeep, Shivaraj, Umesha MS, Basavaraj, Babhuti Rai, Shivaraj, Kamal Hussain alias Munna, Babar Ali, Jasim Ali, Dinesh Kumar alias Rabi Mia, Raj Mandal, Sushanth Mandal and Ajay Sarkar alias Jahangeer — who were the alleged pimps. All are aged between 30 and 50.
As per the FIRs registered at the Bagalagunte, Varthur, KR Puram, Amruthahalli and Vidyaranyapura police stations, some of the suspects are from Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, while the others are from the northern part of the country.
“The women were not cheated saying that they would be given jobs, but were cajoled into prostitution, especially with the lure of money. It is called soliciting. The probe did not find that the rescued women were forced into prostitution,” a senior police officer told DH.
In majority of the cases, the officer said, pimps use apps like Locanto to find potential clients.
The arrested were booked under Sections 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel), 4 (punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution), and 5 (procuring, inducing or taking 1[person] for the sake of prostitution) of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, and relevant IPC sections, including 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave).
The officials also impounded four two-wheelers and one Maruti Suzuki Swift car, and recovered 40 mobile phones, two laptops and three SIM cards from the suspects.
Published 31 October 2023, 20:40 IST