Two Uzbek Among Five RescuedNagpur: The city police on Friday busted a sophisticated app-based flesh trade racket and rescued five women, including two from Uzbekistan. The action against the escort service, operating through the ‘Personal Meeting’ mobile application, has put several top international racketeers supplying foreign prostitutes on the radar.Women from Kolkata, Chandigarh and Delhi too were rescued during the raid in front of a hotel in Gokulpeth, while the key accused was arrested. Sources stated the Uzbek nationals were staying in India with fake Aadhaar cards, posing as a local resident. They said the foreign nationals came to the city around three years ago on tourist visas.The mastermind, Gagan Thakur, alias Sameer, ran a highly digital racket, cops said. Any person logging into the ‘Personal Meeting’ app used to get access to seven to eight photographs of models, including those from Uzbekistan and Russia. The payments were made both online and offline. Cops further said that the kingpin of the gang, Thakur, who is at large, has several criminal cases against him.Acting on specific intelligence gathered over the prolonged probe, a team from the Crime Branch, led by police inspector Darshan Patil, laid a trap in front of the hotel in Gokulpeth under Ambazari police station.The decoy customer used by cops on Friday paid Rs5,000 online, while Rs8,000 was supposed to be handed over in cash to the women. Police rescued five victims — two Uzbek women and three from Punjab, Delhi and Kolkata — who were allegedly forced into prostitution.The arrested accused, Sachin Mahajan, 38, is believed to be a central figure in the local operations of the multi-state flesh trade network. Two other key accused — Rahul and a woman named Pooja — are absconding.The rescued foreign women have been taken into protective custody. Their passports and visas are being thoroughly checked, and the External Affairs Ministry will be alerted regarding their status and repatriation. Police sources said that most of these women hail from weak economic backgrounds and were lured with false promises of quick money.Following the successful raid, DCP (Detection) Deepak Agarwal and his team are now planning to bust similar flesh trade rackets being run by Bilal, Sarfaraz, Ashwin, Mona, Manish, Ghansani, Ajju, Sultan and others.Sources said that traffickers bring Russian and Uzbek women to the city and supply them to big hotels, resorts and other high-end locations.
