An inter-state online sex racket running for the past few years was busted when police raided a house in a Kanpur locality and rescued nine girls, including one each from Assam and Delhi.
The rescue was made from the Naubasta area. The victims were mostly from Kanpur besides Assam, Delhi and Faizabad.
Eleven people including pimps and customers were arrested after the Uttar Pradesh police tracked down the gang as the cyber cell found a link posted on Twitter recently.
“The gang had posted mobile phone numbers in the link to take calls from customers,” SSP Preetinder Singh said on Sunday evening.
“We have arrested one Ashish Kumar, a resident of Naubasta. On the basis of inputs provided by him, we then arrested one Raju a.k.an Iran. They informed investigators that the girls hailing from outside the state are being supplied to customers by a broker Kalpana Gupta,” the SSP said.
A decoy customer then contacted the number displayed on the link. He was asked to come to a spot in the city, after which the crack team, led by Naubasta police officials, raided the place.
Twenty-one mobile phones, two motorcycles, and two scooty were seized from brokers and customers. A case was registered at Naubasta police station under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act and efforts are on to nab others involved.
Investigating officers said the racket has been operating for the past few years and during this time, the accused were believed to have forced scores of girls into the flesh trade.
“The racket was being run across India. There was one girl each from Delhi, Faizabad, and Assam. We are obtaining details so that their information can be shared with the authorities in other cities,” a senior police official said.
