Pune Crime Files: from escort service to drug sale, how convicted top sex racketeer Kalyani was booked under MCOCA again

The police arrested Kalyani’s husband Umesh Deshpande, 56, her niece Aishwarya Deshpande alias Aishwarya Ranawade, 22, and Aishwarya’s husband Abhishekh Ranawade, 32, from the spot. The searches, meanwhile, led to the recovery of about 21 kg of marijuana, worth Rs 11 lakh, from their possession.

Questioning of the three accused allegedly revealed that Kalyani had procured the marijuana, which was then stocked in nylon bags and sold from the garment shop. A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged at Bavdhan police station under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The investigators launched a search for Kalyani.

A senior police officer said that though Kalyani is the most notorious sex racketeer in Pune, this is the first case against her that is linked to a drug racket. The police suspect that Kalyani, who is known to have contacts across various criminal syndicates, allegedly networked with marijuana smugglers operating from Odisha via Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, officers said she started Kalyani Collection a few months before the raids. The shop sold garments, but it was allegedly just a cover for the marijuana business.

Following a rigorous search operation, the police arrested her from the Rajanagaram area in Andhra Pradesh on June 15. Since then, she has been behind bars, but the investigators are yet to trace the people who allegedly supplied the marijuana. “We suspect that she started selling marijuana alongside running the sex racket to make more money,” Senior Inspector Patil said.

The Pimpri Chinchwad police said Kalyani was running an organised criminal gang with Umesh, Aishwarya, and Abhishek. Considering the alleged involvement of the gang in six offences, including five crimes pertaining to sex racketeering in the past, the police in July invoked MCOCA against all four accused in the NDPS Act case registered at Bavdhan police station, as per a statement issued on August 2.

Kalyani’s long association with crime

However, the police said Kalyani has a long criminal record. They believe she was a part of the sex trade in Pune since the 1990s, but her name only made it to Pune City police records in 2000 when she was named an accused in around 25 criminal cases, officers added.

As per police records, Kalyani operated an escort agency named ‘Venus Escorts’ from her bungalow in Pune. She was first booked under MCOCA after her name cropped up in connection with the murder of a sex worker at a hotel on the outskirts of Pune in December 2005. An FIR of murder was lodged against her at Haveli police station, but she was discharged under MCOCA and later acquitted in the case.

The police said her residence on Sus Road was infamous for sex trade and crimes. In December 2007, her close aide in the prostitution business, Anil Dhole, was murdered at this bungalow. According to police sources, even after Dhole’s death, Kalyani’s activities grew, with some of her customers being high-profile clients. Sources said she developed a network that allegedly “supplied” girls from different parts of the country and abroad for prostitution in Pune and other areas.

On March 31, 2012, the Hinjewadi police arrested Kalyani in a sex racket case. And in April, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested an inspector and a constable of Hinjewadi police station for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 40,000 from Kalyani’s cousin Jatin Chawda to prevent seeking an extension in her police custody before the court. Kalyani got bail in this case and allegedly continued to operate her sex racket.

Police sources said Kalyani had even announced a film based on her life, claiming that it was being shot in Pune, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad, but did not reveal its title. The film was never released.

Kalyani reportedly told investigators that she hailed from an ordinary family and married an autorickshaw driver. She claimed that an urgent need for money in the family had led her to the sex trade.

First conviction under MCOCA

In April 2012, ahead of the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, Kalyani had put up banners in some parts of the city to show her interest in social work. The banners carried her photograph alongside Ambedkar’s image.

However, in 2016, the Pune City police arrested Kalyani after links emerged with a sex racket busted at an apartment in Bhusari Colony, Kothrud. The police had allegedly found two women from Uzbekistan engaged in prostitution at the apartment. Kalyani and her aides – Pradip Gavali and Ravi Tapase – were arrested in this case under sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA).

The same year, in October, the police invoked MCOCA against Kalyani in this case. In December 2022, a special court in Pune convicted and sentenced her to seven years of rigorous imprisonment under PITA and MCOCA charges.

Officers said that after completing her jail term, she became active in the prostitution business again. Last year, she was arrested in two sex racket cases in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Officers said she soon came out on bail before allegedly getting involved in the marijuana trade.