Date:07/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/07/stories/2008050758580300.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

16 held on charges of immoral traffic

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: The police have arrested 16 persons, including nine women, on the charge of immoral traffic.

Circle Inspector, Peroorkada, M. Radhakrishnan Nair said a “brothel house” was working under the cover of an Ayurveda research institute at Paippinmoodu.

The police seized two cars, one motorbike, 20 mobile telephones and a significant quantity of liquor from the building. Mr. Nair said the house, situated in a quiet residential area, had been under police surveillance for the past several days. The police were acting on the basis of an information received by City Police Commissioner Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar.

The police raided the house at 2.45 p.m. The action was video recorded in the presence of independent witnesses. The arrested males, included a medical representative, a taxi driver and a trader. The police said the sex racketeers sold women to customers for Rs.1,000 an hour.

The racketeers gave the women Rs.200 per day, along with free mess and boarding. The women suspects hail from economically and socially backward families. Most of them are between the age of 19 and 30.

Some of them had been arrested earlier on similar charges.

An official said most of the women were heavily addicted to liquor, mainly because of the degrading nature of their job. The police are looking for one ‘Kannadi’ Shaji and ‘Gurukal’ who are the prime suspects in the case.

The suspects were medically examined at the Medical College Hospital. They will be produced before a court on Wednesday.