13 women rescued in bar raid, 4 held

The Navi Mumbai crime branch raided a bar in Turbhe on Tuesday night and rescued 13 women. Four people including the bar owner have been arrested.

The raid was conducted at Ganraj Bar, restaurant and lodging at Turbhe village.

According to deputy commissioner of police (crime) Dilip Sawant, “We received a tip-off of a flesh trade racket. Our squad from the Immoral Human Traffic Prevention cell was asked to take action.”

He added, “A team led by the cell’s senior police inspection Anand Chavan and including police sub-inspectors Rupali Pol and Sanjay Khirsagar along with constables Waikar and Kumbhade raided the lodge.”

He said, “We sent a dummy customer. He was provided a woman by the owner and manager of the bar for prostitution purpose. The woman was one of those working in the bar.”

The dummy customer signalled to the police team that lay in wait and the bar was raided by it.

Police rescued 13 women who they said had been brought to the bar for prostitution. The police arrested the bar owner Dinkar Bhoir, 56, along with bar manager Dayanand Shetty, 52, Srinivas Shetty, 35, and Anil Kotal, 28, who worked at the bar.

A case has been registered against them at APMC police station. The accused have been booked under IPC section 370 and sections of Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act.