Sex racket busted near MCH, 9 held

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police have busted a sex racket that has been operating at a house near Medical College Hospital here. Police arrested nine persons, including two women, after conducting a raid at the house on Friday night. They also rescued three women from the racket.
The arrested men are: Balu, 50, of Kumarapuram, Vijay Mathew, 24, of Gowreeshapattom, Sachin, 21, of Pothencode, Irshad, 22, of Vizhinjam, Manoj, 24, of Venganoor, Ananthu, 21, of Plamood and Amal, 26, of Powdikonam. Balu and Vijay Mathew operated the racket while the others were their customers. The arrested women, a 54-year-old from Shangumugham and a 32-year-old from Poonthura, assisted Balu and Mathew in their operations.
The raid was conducted by a team led by Medical College station house officer inspector P Harilal based on a tip-off received by Kazhakootam cyber city assistant commissioner R Anilkumar.
“The racket lured customers by placing advertisements on Locanto, a website for classified advertisements,” the inspector said. The house where the racket operated was actually leased from its owner for providing accommodation to companions of patients admitted in RCC. The one who took the house on lease rented it to the racket, the inspector said, adding that the person who rented out the house was taken into custody on Sunday. His arrest would also be recorded soon.
Police also seized cash worth Rs 80,900 from the residence during the raid. Mobile phones of the arrested persons were also confiscated.
Harilal said that the women whom the gang employed for soliciting customers were recorded as victims in the case. They were aged 35, 30 and 29. While one of them is a local resident, others hailed from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. After producing in court, they were sent to the Mahila Mandiram shelter home of the government.
The others were remanded in judicial custody for charges under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.