Sex racket operating in spa busted in Shimla

SHIMLA: Seven persons, including a Thai national, were arrested on Sunday when the police busted a sex racket allegedly being run in the guise of a spa-cum-beauty salon on the Mall Road here.

A raid was conducted after the Shimla police received a tip-off about the alleged sex racket at a spa-cum-beauty salon on the Mall Road. The team, headed by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dinesh Sharma, had sent a decoy customer to the spa, police said. “We sent a decoy customer who handed over the cash at the salon and later alerted the raiding team. We had noted serial number of the currency notes which were recovered from salon manager during the raid,” said DSP Dinesh Sharma.

The DSP added that salon manager Suresh Kumar and six women, between the ages of 30 and 40, were arrested. “Of the six, three are residents of Manipur, two of Delhi and and a 46-yearold woman from Thailand,” he added.

He added that other present at the salon, however, managed to escape from the spot after arrival of the police team. The salon owner, a resident of Mussorie, was not arrested, police said.

Raiding cops also recovered a stamp of the hotel which they said was not registered with the tourism department. “There was no legal document and permissions for running a spa,” said Sharma.

A case was filed under Sections 3 of the Immoral Trafficking Act (keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used for brothel, Section 4 (living on earning of prostitution).

The six women were sent to nari niketan here.