7 held in Bangalore for flesh trade in two raids

In two raids, the narcotics wing of Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested seven persons on charges of flesh trade on Friday.

In the first incident, the CCB police raided a house in sector 7 of HSR Layout after getting a tip-off about a prostitution racket. Four persons were arrested in the raid. The police said that kingpin of the racket, Krishnamurthy, 63, had lured a couple of female artistes of Kannada TV industry into prostitution. Even his wife, Saroja, 50, was into flesh trade. The couple were arrested along with two women: Anitha, 35, and Deekshitha, 24.

The police said the couple used to charge Rs5,000-Rs10,000 from each customer. The police seized Rs4,000 and four mobile phones from the accused. The police are further investigating the case to nab other members of the gang.

In another raid, the same team of police arrested three women from Ejipura, in Vivekanagar police limits, on charges of prostitution.

All the three girls — Kajal, 23; Rubi, 22; and Reena Khatoon, 20 — are natives of West Bengal.

The police said the two men behind the racket, Viji and Ramesh, managed to escape from the scene.

A team headed by joint commissioner of police (crime, east) B Dayanand and deputy commissioner of police DM Krishnamraju conducted the raid.

The police said the arrested women had come to Bangalore in search of a job but ended up in flesh trade.