Mumbai: Alibaug police busted a prostitution racket functioning under the garb of an event management enterprise on Thursday night, by sending a decoy to a ‘birthday’ party.
Police arrested nine ‘organisers’ and rescued seven women from the party. The women are based in Mumbai and neighbouring areas.
The accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Police said they received a tip-off about a prostitution racket being operated near Kihim Beach in Alibaug.
Acting on this tip-off, police made enquiries and obtained the phone numbers of two ‘organisers’, Rakhi Notani and Ranjita Singh aka Renu, from a watchman.
Accordingly, when the decoy contacted these numbers, the accused enquired about his bank details and instructed him to come to Alibaug on Thursday night.
The decoy was also asked about ‘his taste in women’, after which two bungalows were booked in his name. According to the plan, the decoy was given cash and sent to the address mentioned by the accused.
“When he reached the bungalow, the managers were waiting for him with the women and their agents. After the decoy handed them the money, he had to choose one of the women.
The couple then went into a room, after which the decoy gave a missed call to the police. The missed call from the decoy was the cue for police to raid the premises,” said Anil Paraskar, superintendent of police (Raigad).
During the raid, police intercepted Rakhi and Ranjita, who were found in possession of 10 and 15 grams of cocaine. Subsequently, police arrested Ranjita, Rakhi, Rajkamal, Nikesh Modi, Varun Adalkha, Saeed Amri Razzaq, Seema Singh, Shruti Gavkar and Aarohi Singh.
Meanwhile, police also rescued seven other women, who were sent to a women’s shelter in Karjat. According to sources, some renowned television and film actresses were also in attendance at the party.
