Date:19/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/19/stories/2005101919950300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Two flesh trade rackets busted

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The city police have claimed to have busted two flesh trade rackets and arrested 19 women and 11 men.

Police said a special team lead by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cubbon Park, N.D. Mulla raided a house in Kempapura Dasarahalli near Hebbal and arrested 16 women from Mumbai and eight men allegedly engaged in prostitution. They reportedly got the information about the trade after some men and women were arrested from a car on Kamaraja Road when they were indulging in immoral trade, police said.

The women have entered the trade after dance bars were closed in Mumbai and Bangalore, police claimed. They have seized two cars, six mobile phones and Rs. 2,000 in cash. Police said the kingpin behind the racket, Babu, is at large and investigations are on to find out other persons behind the racket.

In another raid, the Sanjayanagar police arrested three women and three men from a residence in AECS Layout. Police gave the names of the arrested as Shanthi (26) of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Priya (26), of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, Lakshmi (42) of Hyderabad, P. Koya (40), of Padil House in Mangalore, Suresh (44) of Prakash Nagar in Bangalore, and Raju (51) of Hosur in Tamil Nadu.

Police said they took into custody Balu (47), resident of AECS Layout, who was said to be running the racket. Police have seized Rs. 16,000, three mobile phones, gold jewellery and two motorcycles.