Bengal: Howrah sex racket prime accused held, mother and kingpin Shweta Khan still absconding

Kolkata: The West Bengal Police on Wednesday arrested Ariyan Khan, one of the prime accused in the Howrah sex and pornographic film racket, from a hideout in the Golf Green area of south Kolkata, a senior officer said.

Besides Ariyan, one of his accomplices has also been apprehended, the police said.

Ariyan was arrested after being on the run for five days, the officer said, adding that his mother and the key accused in the case, Shweta Khan alias Fultusi, still remains absconding.

"We have held Ariyan from a residence in Golf Green. He is currently being questioned. We will share the details of our investigation with you in some time," Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathi told reporters.

Earlier, Howrah city police had detained Shweta's mother for questioning.

Shweta's youngest child, her three-year-old daughter, has also been rescued by the police from the residence of an unidentified person in Kolkata.

Shocking events came to light last week after a 22-year-old woman from the Panihati area in North 24 Parganas managed to escape the clutches of the mother-son duo who had allegedly confined her in their Bankra-Fakirpara flat in Domjur, Howrah for the previous six months and mercilessly tortured her for not agreeing to shoot pornography and work as a bar dancer.

She allegedly was lured by Ariyan to his Domjur residence under the pretext of offering a job at his event management company, which the police have now confirmed to be a fake entity and a front for the racket run by the mother-son duo.

The victim is currently undergoing treatment at the Critical Care Unit at the state-run Sagar Dutta Hospital with serious and multiple injuries on her head, limbs and internal organs.

Taking suo-motu cognizance of the case, the National Commission for Women has written to the West Bengal DGP seeking an action-taken report within the next 48 hours and has directed the state authorities to provide free medical care and psychological counselling to the victim.

The victim's mother has also reportedly written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, demanding immediate arrest of the accused, seeking justice for her daughter after reports that her physical condition deteriorated since Tuesday evening.