Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 9: The police here have learnt the hard way that they had been taken for a ride by the owner of a lodge at N T Pete near Chamarajpet in the city. Although the police had information that a prostitution racket was in operation at Shiva Palace Deluxe Lodge at the above locality, and they had raided the lodge repeatedly, nothing had come out of them. Now they have got to know that the owner of the lodge had a trick up his sleeve to mislead them.

Following in the footsteps of the previous six raids on this lodge, the police conducted another one on Saturday May 7, and conducted detailed search as usual. This raid also would have proved futile but for the tip off the police got from one of their informants that the brothel was running in a mezzanine floor that was located between first and second floors of the lodge. Armed with this information, they went to work again, and soon found out the mezzanine floor where this activity was on. They also located a number of entry points to this floor that were clandestine. At this floor, they came across five women and four suitors.

The policemen found that small entry points to the mezzanine floor, which was created out of false flooring, were camouflaged and exit points enabling the concerned to escape to the ground floor easily during critical times, were provided.

The owner of the lodge, who ran a provisions store, rang alarm bell when he grew suspicious, enabling the people to exit the building quickly before getting apprehended. The racket was run with so much efficiency that locals residing there since many years had no inkling that such an activity was going on there. It is gathered that the girls who worked for the racket were brought here from rural belts by promising them of lucrative jobs.

Two pimps and four others were arrested during the raid. The police said that out of the five women they rescued from the lodge, four were from Kolkata and the other from Mysuru. The names of the pimps have ben given as Manjunath from Karwar and Mahesh from Mandya. The other four, B Raghu (30) from Tumakuru, Ashraf (37) from Goripalya here, and Chand (24) from Gowripalya here happened to the customers of the brothel.