Navi Mumbai: Two held for using minors’ photos to lure customers for flesh trade

The Vashi police have arrested two persons including a woman for luring customers by sharing photos of minor girls on WhatsApp on Monday. They were allegedly running a prostitution racket.

The arrested persons were identified as Manisha Shinde and Praveen Salunkhe.

Based on the information, the Vashi police laid a trap near sector 30 in Vashi. The police sent a dummy customer near a car parked in sector 30 in Vashi.

Accused were running prostitution racket

“We have information that they were running prostitution racket and they were sharing photos of minor girls to lure customers,” said an official from Vashi police station. He added that they were also sending photos on WhatsApp randomly.

After confirming that they were involved in the racket, a team of policemen, who were sitting close to Kalyan Jewellers in Vashi, detained them. After realizing that they were trapped by the police, they tried to escape. However, the police arrested him.

A case was registered against them under sections 370 and 34 of IPC, sections 3,4 and 5 of The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 and sections 4,8, and 12 of the Child Exploitation Act 2017.

Senior Police Inspector Atul Aher from Vashi police said that there is a possibility that there is a big racket operating behind closed doors. An investigation is underway in this regard.