Goa Police bust prostitution racket; 2 arrested

Panaji, Jan 19 (IANS) Goa Police have busted a prostitution racket that was allegedly operating from a resort in the coastal state, an official said on Thursday, adding two persons have been arrested in this connection.  

According to the police, the resort used to arrange 'mujra' for "wealthy patrons", and the dancers were being sexually exploited.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi said that a police team raided a resort at Ashvem-Pernem in North Goa and rescued two women aged around 23-24 years.

The police officer said both the women hail from the "northern part of India".

"In this connection, we have arrested the owner of the resort Vijay Kumar Sarkar (44), a native of Jharkhand and his assistant Ajit Kumar Jha, a native of Bihar," Dalvi said.

He said that police collected digital records and photographs of victims including online payment done to the accused persons.

"We suspected the accused to be involved in arranging 'mujra' for the wealthy customers. During the dance in which young women perform, they are surrounded by male customers and after the dance, the women are subjected to sexual exploitation," the police officer said.

He said that CCTV footage was being collected, and other documents were taken into police. custody.

"We will be summoning various guests suspected to be attending the 'mujras' for investigation," he said.

Dalvi further said that both the accused persons were presented in a court which sent them to police custody for 10 days, adding more arrests are likely to be made in the case.

--IANS

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