Women's Police Station, Panaji has successfully cracked an inter-state high-end prostitution racket arresting five persons and rescuing one victim.
Addressing the media at the Police Headquarters at Panaji on Thursday, Superintendent of Police (Crime) Karthik Kashyap informed that the Crime Branch apprehended the main accused Anand Kumar (46), also known as Andy and Chetan, a resident of Ribandar but is a native of Mumbai.
Kumar is wanted in at least five cases of immoral trafficking across the State and several others in the neighbouring States.
"Girls rescued previously had spoken about him during counseling sessions with various NGOs. They had described him and he was on our radar since then," SP Kashyap said.
Speaking about the probe, he further stated, “Anand's partner is absconding. But we will trace him soon. We have also recovered various materials which indicate that this racket involve many high-profile actresses and models. There is also material indicating involvement of high-end clients."
However, SP Kashyap refused to comment on queries about the clientele, which is suspected to include several politicians.
It was informed that a 'decoy customer' trap was laid at Bambolim after receiving information from a credible source about the flesh trade business, and that the girls were being procured from Mumbai for purpose of prostitution, which resulted in the arrest of one accused Naga Pramodh Kumar (21) and rescue of the victim.
During his interrogation, Pramodh revealed details about Anand, who he said was the main culprit and allegedly ran the racket.
Acting on information, police zeroed down on the whereabouts of Anand and arrested him at his residency near Milroc, Ribandar.
Police also raided the place in Caranzalem where the victim was allegedly kept and arrested three security guards namely Indradev (19), Ramudesh (24) and Santosh (22), all three residents of Bihar.
Women's Police have registered an offence under Sections 370 of IPC and under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention (ITP) Act, 1956.
All the five accused has been remanded to five days police custody by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Panaji.
