PUDUCHERRY: The
Puducherry police on Tuesday busted
prostitution rackets operating from a spa and massage parlour, a hotel and a house in a residential area in the town limits and arrested nine people, including two clients and three pimps.
The police rescued eight women in their 20s and 30s, who were forced into the flesh trade by the pimps. Six rescued women are from Puducherry while one each are from
West Bengal and
Tamil Nadu.
On receiving a tip off on the thriving flesh trade under the Reddiarpalayam and Lawspet police stations’ limits in the north division, the police decided to deploy decoy clients to nab all the suspects red-handed.
“The special force team deployed decoy customers to suit the modus operandi of the culprits in busting out the crime and arrested all those involved in the crime besides rescuing women forced into the flesh trade,” senior superintendent of police (law and order) Apoorva Gupta told reporters.
The police team arrested two pimps - S Rajendra Kumar alias Rajendiran, 37 of Mudaliarpet and S Vijayan, 33, of Neyveli -- and a client, Ameerr John alias John, 42 of Orleanpet, from a house in Reddiarpalayam.
The police rescued a woman from the house where the
pimp duo was running the prostitution racket.
Inquiries revealed that the woman in her early 20s hailed from West Bengal and reached Puducherry in search of employment to support her family.
Apoorva said the rescued woman was accommodated with an NGO. “She will be handed over to her next kin,” the SSP said.
In a raid at JP Residency in Ajees Nagar, Reddiarpalayam, the police arrested a pimp identified as S Rajkumar, 47, of Kumaratchi, client B Gajendran, 30, of Marakanam, hotel manager T Devanand alias Dev, 24, of Mudaliarpet and lessee of the hotel N Bala alias Balasubramanian, 40 from Moolakulam.
The police rescued a woman from the hotel, who was forced into the flesh trade. Inquiries revealed that the woman hailed from Tamil Nadu and came to Puducherry in search of employment.
In the third raid at Philomena beauty parlour, a spa and massage parlour, the police arrested parlour owner D Murugadass, 40, of Nonankuppam and pimp J Santhosh, 30, of Shanmugapuram.
They rescued six women, all residents of Puducherry, who were working in the parlour and were forced into the flesh trade by the parlour owner and the pimp. The rescued women were handed over to their relatives.
“The accused people under the disguise of offering massage services have forced the victim women into flesh trade,” Apoorva said.