Representative image of a police van
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Bengaluru: Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials have busted a prostitution racket in Hongasandra, rescuing two minor girls and arresting three persons, including a woman.
On August 28, around 5:30 pm, CCB's Women Protection Wing officials and the jurisdictional Bommanahalli police raided a rented house in Hongasandra and rescued the two girls.
They also apprehended the three suspects, Subramanya Shastri, 26, a techie from Electronics City; Karishma Sheikh, 27, an employee in a private firm; and Suraj Shahaji, 36, a food delivery executive.
During the investigation, the police found that the two girls rescued were minors from West Bengal, while Karishma and Shahaji, who allegedly pimped the girls, are from Odisha.
The police found that Karishma had rented the house three months ago and since then used to bring girls from other states to solicit prostitution. She would contact potential customers by phone.
"Subramanya Shastri, the customer, claimed he had no idea the girls were minors,” a police officer told DH.
“However, as per Pocso provisions, he has also been booked," he said, adding that relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act were also invoked after the police found that the rescued girls were minors.
A case has been registered at the Bommanahalli police station under sections 143(2) and 143(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to the trafficking of people; and sections 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel), 4 (punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution) and 5 (procuring, inducing or taking person for the sake of prostitution) of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act.