The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police arrested three people including a self-styled producer of C-grade films for running a prostitution racket with the help of two pimps from a plush duplex apartment in Mira Road.
After receiving a tip-off about the flesh trade activities, the AHTU team led by Senior Police Inspector-Sampatrao Patil under the instructions of DCP (Crime)-Dr. Mahesh Patil, sent a decoy customer and after confirming the authenticity of the information, raided the sixth floor flat.
The kingpin of the racket turned out to be-Parmanand Balchandani (68) - a self-styled producer of C-grade films. While two accomplices of the producer including a woman were caught red handed while accepting money for the rendezvous, two women were rescued from the clutches of the flesh trade racketeers. Not ruling out a casting couch angle in which aspiring actresses were pushed into immoral activities, the police have registered an offence under the various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act-1956 against the accused who have been remanded to custody. “The accused claims to have produced one film and it is suspected that under the guise of a new launch, he lured aspiring actresses and later pushed them into flesh trade. In order to misguide residents of the building one of the pimps claimed to be an acupuncture doctor who treated patients visiting the flat.” said an investigating officer. The immoral activities were going on in the apartment for the past nearly 10 years. The rescued women have been sent to a rehabilitation center and the case has been handed over to the Mira Road police for further investigations.
