Flesh trade: Five more arrested

Vadodara: Five men were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the prostitution racket that was busted at MIG flats in Karelibaug last week.
They were identified as Ankit alias Aniket Rathod and Rajesh alias Raju More, both residents of Waghodiya Road, Kishore Bharti, a native of Assam, Bhikhalal alias Ravi Vanani, and Manish Thakkar, a resident of Ajwa Road. They used to get commercial sex workers from the main accused Anna alias Emtij alias Imtiyaz Sheikh.

On Sunday, police had raided houses of Rathod and Vanani, but they had fled. They were nabbed along with Bharti on Tuesday near Amitnagar Circle after laying a trap. Later the trio revealed the names of More and Thakkar, who were nabbed near civic body’s water tank in Karelibaug.

Police said that the names of the five accused were revealed during Sheikh’s interrogation. The five accused used to operate in different areas of the city and pay Sheikh anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per day for one worker. “The workers were sent to at least three customers by the five accused and they used to charge money according to their wishes,” said a police official.

“It is now clear that Sheikh used to get girls from one Al Amin in Surat and also through his own sources from across the country. Once Amin will be held, more arrests will be made and a larger racket will be unearthed,” said inspector R A Jadeja of Karelibaug police station. One team of cops has been sent to Surat to nab Amin.

So far, eight persons including a woman have been arrested and seven commercial sex workers including one from Bangladesh have been freed. The worker from Bangladesh told police that Amin had bought her for Rs 5,500 from her parents and infiltrated her illegally in India through international border in West Bengal.