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- By Parinda News Bureau, January 2, 2007, 16:00 IST
The Social Service Branch of the Mumbai Police busted a prostitution racket at Udipi Bar and Restaurant in Sewri and arrested the manager and 19 others—stewards and hotel staff—in connection with the case. The operation was conducted on December 30 and 41 women were rescued according to a report in Indian Express' Mumbai Newsline. The police said the women would work as waitresses in the restaurant but service prospective customers on the side. The racket was being run under the name ‘Free Service’ by the management of the restaurant, who ran a guest house called Navyashree Guest House in the same building.
The police have registered a case under Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act (PITA) against the manager, Shubhanand Mahabal Shetty (58) for running the pick up joint. According to the police, this was the highest number of sex workers to be rescued in the last three years.
The Social Service Branch of the Mumbai Police said that they acted on a tip off they received on December 29, 2006. They decided to lay a trap under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (enforcement) Sanjay Mohite to bring the culprits to book. The team sent bogus customers to the guest house on December 30 with marked currency notes. “We maintained complete secrecy in the raid. The area is near the dock and the vehicular traffic on the road mainly consists of heavy vehicles. To maintain secrecy we sent our team inside a goods vehicle, instead of police vans,” said Mohite.
Another officer on conditions of anonymity revealed that the operation had not been a smooth ride. “The police officers were dressed in civil clothes and were intercepted by some local policemen at a nakabandi on their way to the hotel. However, they managed to leave the place without letting out that they were from the Social Service Branch, as they wanted the operation to be top secret,” he said.
The bar and restaurant was raided at 12.20 am and the women were rescued from 11 rooms at the guest house. The police raided the hotel after the management accepted the marked currency notes from the policemen in plain clothes who posed as customers. The team from the Social Service Branch consisted of five police inspectors, seven sub inspectors and six policewomen. They were assisted by a team of policemen from the Sewri police station.
All the accused were produced before the holiday court and remanded to police custody till January 6. Twenty women were sent to Deonar Remand Home and the other 21 were sent to the custody of an NGO, Rescue Foundation, Kandivli. Triveni Acharya, Director of Rescue Foundation said, “The raid was not conducted by us. The police just sought our help for the safe custody of the women . All of them looked like adults and minors can be detected only after medical examinations.”
All the rescued women will be sent for the medical tests for age verification tests and the case will be referred to a session court if any minors are found. The police have registered a case under Sections 3, 4, 5,7 (1) (b) of the PITA act.
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