PUNE: The social security cell of the city crime branch rescued two women, both from
Uzbekistan, from the clutches of pimps after conducting a raid at a five-star hotel in Vimannagar on Wednesday night. Police have arrested one pimp, while two others managed to flee.
A team, comprising senior inspector
Sanjay Patil and assistant inspectors Chandrakant Jadhav and
Pradip Shelar, raided the hotel room and rescued the two 27-year-old foreign nationals, who have now been sent to a rescue home in Hadapsar.
Police recovered Rs 69,000 in cash, two laptops, five cellphones and other valuables, worth Rs 59,340, from their possession. “One of the pimps – Vikas, alias
Dambar Giri, of Vadgaon Sheri — was arrested. Two of his accomplices fled, but we have launched a hunt for them,” said Patil.
A case of Immoral Trafficking has been lodged against the pimps with the Yerawada police. Police said the two women had come to India a couple of months ago on tourists visas. It is suspected Pune- and Mumbai-based agents were in touch with them. The women had come to India to earn money to support their families. Police said the three agents brought the women to Pune and kept them in the five-star hotel. They were looking for affluent customers. However, the police raided the hotel on a tip-off.
This is not the first time the police have rescued foreign nationals forced into flesh trade in the city. In last six months, 21 women from Thailand, three from Uzbekistan and couple of women from Bangladesh and Nepal were rescued. In 2017 too, the social security cell had rescued 21 women from Uzbekistan,
Thailand and other countries from various parts of the city. The women from Uzbekistan were rescued from a star hotel on the Ahmednagar road while a majority of the Thai women were rescued from the different spas and massage centres in Yerawada, Kalyaninagar, Lullanagar, Mukundnagar and Aundh. Meanwhile, the women from Bangladesh and Nepal were staying illegally and were found in the brothels of Budhwar Peth.
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According to the social security cell, several women from Uzbekistan visit India for two to three months
They establish contacts with the Indian pimps through different social networking sites and pimps based in their homeland
The women prefer to stay in the five-star hotels and only cater the rich
They charge between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000
Women from Thailand usually work in spas and massage centres
They charge between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000.
The agents fix the customers before bringing the women to Pune
