Flesh trade racket busted in Shimla

Shimla: Shimla police claimed to have busted an inter-state flesh trade racket and arrested ten persons including five women and the kingpin.

The girls arrested during raid at a local hotel following a tip off hailed from Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Punjab while out of three customers, two hailed from Mumbai and one from Nepal, police said toda.

The kingpin of the gang, and the manager of the hotel were also arrested.

Additional SP, Bhajan Devi Negi who conducted the raid said that the police called some telephone numbers for “escort services” as decoy customers and established contact with a pimp, who agreed to provide girls in Shimla and booked two rooms in a hotel but they became suspicious and the deal fizzled out.

However, the second person responded positively and after negotiations agreed to deliver two girls for Rs 13,000 and the girls were delivered on the road.

The police took the girls and the pimp into custody and during preliminary investigations, the girls confessed that three girls had already been delivered in a hotel near Tara hall.

Following the clue, the police raided the hotel and arrested three girls along with three customers and the manager of the hotel and also recovered Rs 76,000 in cash.

The accused in the age group of 19-23 years have been booked under sections 4, 5 and 7 of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956.

ASP Bhajan Dev Negi said that it was an intricate exercise to track them down the culprits as it is an organised crime which needed logistic support and proper strategy to apprehend the culprits.

Earlier on July 8, the police arrested 31 persons including eight women for alleged involvement in flesh trade from a hotel near Shoghi on the border of Shimla-Solan district, about 15 km from here last evening.