Kingpin's arrest exposes cops' role in sex trade

CHENNAI: The arrest in October of one of the kingpins of the

sex trade

in the city, 'Tailor' Ravi, 58, has set off a chain of events that has exposed the close ties many police officers have with the criminal gangs. And, last week, the Madras high court asked the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to investigate two police officers who had a long stint in the anti-vice squad (AVS).


A source in the police commissioner's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said soon after Ravi was arrested, the police personnel involved got more than 20 calls from senior police officers, politicians, businessmen and even a few bureaucrats, asking them to let him go.

When they examined Ravi's call records, police found frequent calls at odd hours from at least five police inspectors, two assistant commissioners of police (ACP), and a deputy commissioner of police. It's not that the police brass were unware about the nexus. In the past one year alone, at least 15 police personnel had to be shifted because of their ties with those in the sex trade.

And the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has unearthed call records showing that several serving as well as former police officers in the AVS were in touch with not just Ravi, but four other kingpins who had divided the city among themselves and did not encroach on each other's turf while they ran prostitution rackets under the guise of spas and massage parlours.

It took the cops eight years to nab Ravi - with his connections he was always one step ahead of them, skipping off to safety just before they raided a hideout. An AVS police officer said, "We laid a trap getting a woman to speak to Ravi on the pretext that she wanted to enter the sex trade." When Ravi came to pick up the woman at a place near

Anna Nagar

, the AVS police team nabbed him

An officer, who was part of the team that arrested Ravi, said, "Ravi is influential and has engaged people to tip him off about the movements of police personnel targeting the spas and massage parlours run by him and his accomplices."

Police sources said the sex trade in the city was run by Ravi, 'Poonga' Venkatesan, Justin, Alex and Dhanasekaran. "Ravi and Venkatesan run 50 to 60 spas and massage parlours each in the city. Ravi has his set-up in Anna Nagar,

Aminjikarai

,

Nungambakkam

and western suburban areas, while Venkatesan is active on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and in

Velachery

and other southern suburbs.

The Madras high court has directed the DVAC to present within two months its findings against two anti-vice squad officers. A division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramoniam Prasad passed the order while disposing of a plea moved by Y Akbar Ahmed, a resident of Royapettah.