News anchor pushed into flesh trade

Journalist from Kolkata waspromised a better job in Mumbai, sold to pimp

The Mira Road police arrested a married couple for allegedly trying to force a 25-year-old woman from Kolkata into prostitution in Pune. The police are looking for four others for aiding the couple.

The police said the couple had brought Sagarika Roy, a news anchor in a Kolkata TV channel, to Mumbai in May by promising her a better job. 

“A friend named Vivek Nandy introduced her to Sanjay Gupta, the main accused, who brought her to Mira Road,” sub-inspector Vijay Giri said. Roy stayed in Gupta's home in Gokul Dham for a few days. She was then told to meet a person named Nasir in Pune for a job.

According to the complaint filed by an acquaintance of Roy, Gupta sold her to Nasir, an alleged pimp, for Rs20,000. Nasir tried to force her into prostitution. When she resisted, she was sent back to Gupta.
Gupta's son Vijay kept her confined to a flat in Naya Nagar.

But Roy managed to contact Dr Mohammad Kadri in Raigad and told him about her ordeal.

After Kadri filed the complaint on May 31, she was rescued from the flat. However, the accused were absconding. On June 15, the police arrested Gupta and his wife Reena, acting on a tip-off that the couple  would be coming to their Gokul Dham flat. 

The police are now in search of Vijay, Nandy, Nasir and another person who tried to force her into prostitution in Pune. "Gupta is a resident of Kolkata and his real surname is Jaiswal. We have informed the Kolkata and Pune police about the other suspects," said Giri.