Sleaze racket busted in Behala region, 9 arrested

The city police on Sunday arrested nine persons including three women on charges of running a sleaze racket in a guest house at Behala.

Police said members of the racket were running the business in the first three floors of a five-storey building. 

Acting on a tip off, police posing as a prospective client, booked room in the guesthouse and conducted a raid. 

During the raid police found two sex workers and five people in the guest house. All seven were arrested. The couple, who own the Shreema guest house, stays in the top floor of the building. Ram Chandra Das and his wife Sandhya Das were also arrested. Local people had earlier requested the couple not to allow such people to take shelter in their guesthouse. Despite knowing what goes on in the first three floors, the couple didn’t pay heed to requests of the local people. 

A police officer said that the two sex workers - Sampa Das and Minati Das - might have been arrested earlier. They rent rooms in houses in different posh areas of the city so that it will not lead to any suspicion. 

Police suspects that they also used to shoot adult movie clips. Recently some local people saw at least nine to ten women entering the guesthouse and it led to the suspicion. The women were well dressed as if they came to appear for a interview. 

On Sunday, a local person informed the police after again witnessing two women entering the guesthouse. Policemen from Behala police station conducted the raid and arrested nine of them. 

It may be mentioned that in December 2015, 28 people were arrested from a marriagehall at Salt Lake on charges of making adult movies. The owners of the hall including Tapabrata Ghosh, nephew of Jyoti Basu's personal aide Joykrishna Ghosh, were also arrested.

The owners in Salt Lake used to get Rs 7500 for each day. In Behala too, the owners used to get more than Rs 10,000 for three floors everyday.They let out the premises to make fast and easy money, but finally got arrested, said a police officer adding that raids will be conducted soon after getting any information.