TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Crime Branch (CB) sleuths rescued five girls from Mumbai who were forced into prostitution at a city-based spa on Wednesday evening. The team had carried out a raid at Reshma Salon and Spa at St Inez on a tip-off on prostitution activities at the salon.
Four suspects identified as Dinesh Mishra, Sandip Tiwari and Ashutosh Mishra, all from Uttar Pradesh, and a lady receptionist Daya Tiwari were arrested for allegedly forcing the young girls into the flesh trade and living on their earnings.
The arrest of Dinesh is considered the biggest breakthrough as he had been running prostitution rackets from various establishments for a long time.
He was absconding since April 19, 2014, when the CB team had cracked down on Priya Salon and Spa, located in a hotel in Panjim. In this raid, six girls trafficked from Karnataka, Odisha and Manipur were rescued while six men – five customers and beauty parlour manager Sudip Patra – were arrested. Dinesh had managed to give the team a slip and repeated searches at various places including his home at Bambolim proved futile.
The girls rescued during the present raid on Wednesday have been sent to the Protective Home at Merces. An investigation will reveal whether they were lured on the pretext of offering lucrative jobs in the State or are former dance bar girls from Mumbai pushed into this illegal activity.
