Interstate Sex Racket Busted, 3 Held From Assam, Bihar

Police has busted an interstate prostitution racket providing “escort services” at various places, and arrested three people, including a woman, from Assam and Bihar. "Technical analysis led the crime branch to discover the complicity of one Nayanmoni Patowary, Manager of Hotel Minerva, Panbazar (in Guwahati) in running the racket. The person was picked up on August 5," police said.

According to Assam Police, its Social Media Cell in Guwahati came across Twitter handles and websites claiming to offer such services in the state capital and other cities.

The analysis of the information and preliminary probe found the presence of an interstate gang in the racket, it said in a release.

Patowary, during interrogation, revealed that the kingpin of the gang - Saneep Kumar alias Mukul Bhardwaj was behind the criminal activity along with his wife Diya Sarmah alias Junaki Begum - the release said.

"The culprits used to communicate with the potential customers via social media. The sex racket operated in the hotel or in one of the rooms rented by Bhardwaj in Jiyabharali Apartment. In this process, all the accused got commissions," police said.

A crime branch team apprehended Bhardwaj’s wife from Pathar Quarry area of Guwahati on August 6, but he was still at large and his exact whereabouts were not known, the release said.

"Technical analysis of mobile numbers used by the main kingpin revealed several addresses ranging from Delhi to Bihar to Maharashtra.

"Consistent efforts… succeeded in narrowing the location of the accused down to Lakhisarai district of Bihar. A police team dispatched to Lakhisarai was successful in nabbing him on August 8," it said.

Bharadwaj could be operating similar prostitution rackets in various other places, too, the Guwahati Police said.

The accused is being brought to Guwahati and will be thoroughly questioned; the release added.

With PTI inputs