Howrah sex racket kingpin, another prime accused held in Bengal

Kolkata: The West Bengal Police on Wednesday arrested a woman, considered the kingpin in the Howrah shady film racket, and her son from their hideouts in different locations in Kolkata, an officer said.

A joint team of Domjur Police Station and Howrah City Police first nabbed the son Ariyan Khan from a flat in the Golf Green area and one of his accomplices, a minor, from Narendrapur in South 24 Parganas district, he said.

Later at night, they arrested Khan's mother Shweta alias 'Phultusi' from a hideout in the city's Alipore area.

"Shweta has changed her mobile number several times making it difficult for us to spot her location. Today, after grilling her son, we got her new number and were able to locate her in Alipore," the officer told PTI.

The accused woman had changed her looks in such a manner that after nabbing her from Alipore on Wednesday, the police could not identify her, he said, adding that she has been using an event management company behind which she used to operate a racket to shoot soft pornographic films.

"We had to take a few snaps of her and send them to her relatives to get confirmation about her identity before arresting her. She will be produced before a court tomorrow," the officer said.

Specifying the son's role, he said that Ariyan used to lure young girls using his social networking site accounts and then bring them to his mother, who used to force them to act in pornographic films, he said.

Earlier, Ariyan was produced before the Howrah district court and remanded to police custody for nine days.

The minor was taken to a juvenile justice home under the provisions of the state Juvenile Justice Act.

Ariyan was arrested after being on the run for five days, the officer said.

A team of Howrah City Police personnel picked up Ariyan around 11 am from an intersection on Prince Ghulam Mohammad Shah Road under Golf Green PS, sources said.

Another team raided a house on Deshapran Sashmal Road in the neighbourhood on Tuesday evening after receiving a tip-off that Shweta could be hiding there but failed to catch her.

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 the city.

Shocking events came to light last week after a 22-year-old woman from 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 past five months and tortured her for not agreeing to work as a bar dancer.

She was allegedly lured by Ariyan to his Domjur property, under the pretext of offering a job at his event management company, which 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.

The woman alleged that she was regularly assaulted by Shweta, who broke the victim's hands, feet and teeth and was beaten up with iron rods and left starving after she refused to accede to her demands.

Police confirmed that the minor, who was picked up alongside Ariyan, was also directly involved in the torture.

Ariyan, police said, was slapped with non-bailable sections under the BNS for an attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt and outrage of modesty, among others.

The details of the case popped up in the public domain, subsequent to the victim alerting police about bar dancer Shweta's modus operandi of luring girls through her son's fake event management firm and then forcing them to work as dancers in shady bars.

Locals alleged that the family ran a unit for making pornographic films from the Domjur property.

Taking suo-motu cognisance of the case, the National Commission for Women wrote to the West Bengal DGP seeking an action-taken report within the next 48 hours.

"The commission strongly condemns this barbaric act and Hon'ble Chairperson NCW has written to the DGP of West Bengal seeking immediate arrest of the accused under relevant provisions of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and has also directed that the victim be provided with free medical care and psychological counselling. A detailed action taken report must be submitted to the commission within 3 days," the NCW wrote on X on Tuesday evening.

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

"We thank Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for responding to our appeal and facilitating the arrest of Ariyan Khan and the detention of Khan's younger sister. We also demand exemplary punishment for those involved in the brutal torture of my sister. Presently, we are only praying for her speedy recovery," the victim's brother said.