Police bust flesh trade racket operating from a Sec 35 spa, four arrested

Police said the rescued women have so far told them that the owner of the spa, namely Charles, along with a lady receptionist/manager and Gaurav pushed them into prostitution work.

By: Express News Service
Chandigarh | July 14, 2023 08:55 AM IST

3 min read

A police officer said the racket was busted after a tip-off. (Representational)

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Chandigarh Police on Thursday arrested four people, rescued seven women and claimed to have busted a flesh trade racket that was being operated under the garb of a spa in Sector 35.

The police said that the rescued women were from Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. The four arrested accused were identified as Gaurav Kumar, manager of Ganga Spa, a woman receptionist (whose identity has been withheld), and two customers — Deepak Kumar from Mohali and Vijay of Una. Investigators said that the kingpin of the racket was identified as one Charles, who is absconding.

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As per details, the establishment,Ganga Spa centre in Sector 35, has been running out of a rented accommodation for the last six months. Police said the rescued women have so far told them that the owner of the spa, namely Charles, along with a lady receptionist/manager and Gaurav pushed them into prostitution work. Police said that after their arrest, the manager of the spa, Gaurav, and the receptionist were remanded to two-days of police custody on Thursday. Deepak and Vijay were sent to judicial custody.

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A police officer said, “The racket was busted after we received a tip-off. A team was constituted under the supervision of SDPO (southwest), DSP Charanjit Singh Virk, and sub inspector, Naveen Kumar. Some decoy customers were arranged and a deal was struck. As soon as the money was accepted by the manager and the receptionist, a raid was conducted at the spa. During the raid, accused Deepak and Vijay were found in an objectionable condition. Gaurav Kumar and the woman receptionist, on being questioned, failed to give the particulars about the owner of the establishment, Charles.”

Investigators believe that Charles is a pseudoname used by the owner in order to protect his identity. “A case has been registered at Sector 36 police station. Gaurav and the woman receptionist are being interrogated to know more details,” the officer said.

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A source said, “Flesh trade and prostitution rackets being operated in the city under the garb of spa centres had started to become common in Chandigarh. SSP (UT) Kanwardeep Kaur, has issued strict instructions to crackdown on these spa centres. In March, a similar racket had been busted in Sector 8.”