Pramesh S Jain & Binish Thomas (Sub-Editor)
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26-year-old software engineer and a woman were among the three people arrested by Women Protection Wing of the Central Crime Branch officials who were found involved in prostitution .
The police also rescued two minor girls West Bengal who were forced into the prostitution.
The accused have been identified as,Subramanya Shastry,from Electronics City,Karishma Sheikh,27,and Suraj Shahaji,36,the two alleged pimps from Orissa.
Senior officer told reporters,Based on a tip off,a team of officials along with the jurisdictional Bommanahalli police raided a rented house in Hongasandra and rescued the two girls and arrested three persons including a woman who is running the prostitution ring and her customer,Shastry .
During questioning,they found that Karishma rented the house three months ago and would source the minor and young girls from West Bengal and lure them into prostitution.
The accused would contact potential customers over phone offering them young and minor girls.Apart from running the prostitution racket Karishma also worked as house keeping in a private firm in the city,while her associate Shahaji worked as a delivery executive for a food delivery platform.
“Investigations found that Subramanya Shastri,the customer,claimed he had no idea the girls were minors, however the police contemplating invoking relevant section of POCSO against him and the other accused based on the medical report .
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 Act.Relevant sections of the POCSO Act were also invoked after the police found that the rescued girls were minors.
