Officials on the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Thursday busted an inter-state prostitution racket and arrested nine people operating the ring, and rescued 26 women from them.
S. D. Sharanappa, Joint Commissioner of Police (CCB), said that the accused used to lure women from other States promising decent jobs and would bring them to the city, and then forced them into prostitution.
The accused would house the victims in private apartments and paying guest accommodations, contact the clients over social media, use WhatsApp to send pictures, and would receive money online, before dropping the victims at their location and picking them up .
Based on a tip-off, the CCB officials took up the investigations, and swooped down on three places in the Jnanabharathi area for the arrest and rescue operations .
Among the rescued victims, four are from Delhi, nine are from Mumbai, eight are from West Bengal and the rest of them are from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. They were brought to the city one month ago, and forced to work, a police officer said, adding that they suspect that the ring has inter-state links, which are being probed.
The rescued women have been housed in the state home for women, and the police are further investigating to probe the involvement of others in the racket.
