Sex racket busted: Five held, six girls rescued from city

BHUBANESWAR: Continuing its drive to stop flesh trade in city, the Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested five customers and rescued six girls from a residential area of Chintamaniswar under the Laxmi Sagar police limits here. 

After getting reliable tip-off, a police team led by ACP Akshaya Mishra conducted raid on plot number-1521 at Chintamaniswar where the sex racket was being operated by two brothers, Panchanan Padhi and Sibaprasad Padhi, from Gosani Nuagaon of Brahmapur city in Ganjam district. 

According to the police, the Padhi brothers were running the sex racket at their rented house, a two-storey building near Canal Bandh. The Sibaprasad was staying with his wife and son at the first floor, while the flesh trade was functioning at the ground floor. As the owner of the house Hiralal Shah was not staying in the same house, it was an opportunity for the duo to run the racket in the house, said a senior police officer.

Police said that all six girls belonged to West Bengal and were in the age of 20 to 23. The girls were also working in traffic jam beauty parlour which was earlier raided by the police, said an officer. 

Besides, the Padhi brothers, the police team arrested customers Dinesh Sharma and Safik Sheikh of Bihar and Sarat Kumar Patra of the city from the house. The police are interrogating house owner Shah whether he was involved in the racket or not.