Prostitution racket busted in Raigad, two held with drugs

NAVI MUMBAI: The Raigad local crime branch team raided a party and busted a prostitution racket at two bungalows in

Raigad district

on Thursday night.


The raid was carried out after decoy cops posing as customers contacted the agents, who offered the services of prostitutes. On the directions of the agents, they booked two bungalows online.

A crime branch team comprising 25 cops then raided the bungalows. Two women organisers of the party identified as Rakhi Notani and Ranjeeta Singh alias Renu were found in possession of 15 gm and 11 gm

cocaine

. Nine persons, including five women, were arrested and seven women, who were into prostitution, were rescued.

Besides Notani and Renu, those arrested include Rajkamal, Nikesh Modi, Varun Adalkhan, Saeed Razzak, Seema Singh, Shruti Gaokar and Arohi Singh.

Raigad superintendent of police, Anil Paraskar, said, "No Bollywood celebrities, actresses or models were present at the bungalows raided by the crime branch team. These are rumours spread on social media."

Raigad PRO KT Gawade said, "We obtained mobile numbers of two agents, Rakhi Notani and Ranjita Singh alias Renu, who provided prostitutes, from the watchman of a bungalow in Mandwa. When the decoy cop contacted them on June 27 and sought prostitutes, the women told them to make an online transfer of money. The women then provided the names and rates of the prostitutes. They also told the decoy customers to book two bungalows at different locations in Mandwa, about 5 km from Kihim beach."

Gawade further said a pre-trap panchnama was conducted in the presence of two witnesses and the two decoy customers. Two police teams led by senior inspector Jamil Shaikh of LCB were formed to raid the two bungalows located less than one km from each other.

When the decoy customers entered the bungalows, the women agents, the prostitutes and their managers had already arrived. The decoy customers made the payment to the two agents who handed over the cash to the managers and they, in turn, gave it to the prostitutes. The decoy customers then took the prostitutes inside the rooms and gave a missed call to the police teams waiting outside. The two police teams simultaneously raided the bungalows late Thursday night.

Gawade added, "An FIR has been registered at Mandwa police station under sections 4,5 and 6 of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) along with section 370(1) (b) of the IPC for trafficking of persons for prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation along with section 8 (c), 22 and 27 of the Narcotics

Drugs

and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act."

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