To curb flesh trade, cops crack down on ‘escort’ websites

According to SSB sources, efforts were under way since mid-2013 to get several websites offering escort services off the internet. The SSB had found that these websites, which only had telephone numbers on them, were actually being operated by pimps offering services of models and foreigners. SSB officers said they had written to the Central government several times, asking that these websites be taken off, but received no response.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Enforcement) Mahesh Patil confirmed that there had been no replies to the letters sent to the Centre. “As the websites were still operational, we have now launched a crackdown, dedicating a special squad headed by an inspector for this task,” he added.

A senior officer with the Mumbai Police said taking websites off involved contacting the servers to shut them down as well as contacting search engines like Google to ensure that these websites do not show up in searches. Consequently, the effort was only taken if the websites in question posed a serious law and order problem or a possibility of breach of peace, which was not the case with escort services, the officer said.

The SSB has now started going through newspaper classifieds and advertisements on the internet, and identifying such websites. “We contact the numbers on the websites and negotiate a deal with the person who answers, who is just a middleman between the customer and the pimp, who rarely comes into the picture. Once a ‘deal’ is negotiated, we fix a meeting and arrest these middlemen,” said Patil.

Describing the modus operandi of such rackets, Patil said while the middlemen initially claimed to be able to supply models and foreign nationals for a price of Rs 50,000, the actual ‘escorts’ more often than not turned out to be Indian girls in their 20s, and the price would easily drop to Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 after a little bargaining.

On Wednesday night, the SSB busted a prostitution racket being run out of a salon in Bandra, arresting two pimps and rescuing five girls. The police said the accused were running a website called the Mumbai Escort Service.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com