Team Herald
PANJIM: The internet escort service busted late Thursday night is possibly linked to the Chapora gang rape case in which two girls were rescued and five persons arrested. Sources said Crime Branch (CB) has stumbled upon specific information wherein one of the Chapora rape survivors is among the eight girls rescued in the Calangute raid.
“The rape survivor is amongst the rescued victim in the raid last (Thursday) night. During investigations into the gang rape, she was made an accused as she was found to be a collection agent. We are still verifying the information,” a senior officer said.
In two separate raids at Calangute on Thursday, CB sleuths rescued the young girls, hailing from Kolkata, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Bangalore; and arrested eight persons including two women pimps.
The accused identified as Meghna Nair, Sumona Das, Ganesh Palekar, Raniji Ranvir, Chandrashekhar Mehra, Ayur Mehar, Daksh Bansode and Uttam Behera were on Friday remanded to seven day police custody. Interestingly, Chandrashekar is also being investigated for a similar offense registered at Panjim police station some three months ago.
In the first week of June, the North District police team had arrested a gang of five on charges of extortion, gang rape, impersonation and wrongful restraint after two girls, from Delhi and Gurgaon, approached Anjuna police station with a complaint. The girls claiming to be tourists living in a rented house at Siolim had claimed they had escaped from an apartment at Calangute where they were kept hostage and gang raped.
Investigations later revealed that one of the girls was a collection agent. The team had investigated the ‘revenge plot’ angle along with the rape charges against the accused. “Our probe had revealed the men had stolen some gold ornaments and cash from the girl. She wanted to take revenge on them and plotted the story to nail them,” a police officer said.
Whether the girl is amongst the eight rescued will be confirmed when she is produced before a government-appointed panel for recording the statement.
Another version floating around is that one of the accused women could be involved in the previous case. Das, suspected to be running the escort service from Siolim-Arpora-Calangute, has however denied the charge.
Meanwhile, CB’s present investigation has found that the guest house, from where two girls were rescued on Thursday was rented to persons running the online prostitution. “The premises was taken on rent from a local and further leased out to operate the sex racket. In a website, the identity and mobile numbers of two arrested accused clearly flashes,” an officer said. Investigating officer PI Dattaguru Sawant said they will investigate the illegal leasing out of premises for the illicit activity.
