Thane: Woman qawwali singer from Mira Road held for running flesh trade racket

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A 40-year-old qawwali singer from Thane district was arrested by police on Wednesday for allegedly running a flesh trade racket, said an official. Per the PTI report, the cops also rescued one woman.

Roshni Bablu Sheikh, the accused, was arrested on February 26 in an operation carried out by the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Police's Anti-Human Trafficking Cell, reported PTI.

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An official told PTI that the accused woman operated the racket in Mumbai's western suburbs like Santacruz, Andheri, Dahisar, Borivali and other areas. He was quoted in the report as saying, "The accused woman, a qawwali singer, operated the flesh trade in Mumbai's Santacruz, Andheri, Dahisar, Borivali and other areas. When the police received complaints about it, they laid a trap at a famous roadside eatery on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway at Kashimira and nabbed her. They rescued a female victim and also seized the cash involved in the deal."

The official said that the rescued woman was taken to a rehabilitation facility.

Senior inspector Samir Ahirrao told the news agency that the accused was booked under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, in another incident from Navi Mumbai, two men were booked for allegedly raping and molesting a 42-year-old woman.

According to a PTI report, one of the accused repeatedly assaulted the complainant, who lives in the Kalamboli area of the city.

An official from the Kalamboli police station stated that the woman is already married, and the accused sexually abused her repeatedly after promising to marry her and care for her children according to the report.

The official further told PTI that the accused assaulted the woman between June 15, 2022 and May 14, 2023.

The woman, in her complaint, also said that the man later abused her because of her caste, threatened her with murder, and forced her daughter to work in the flesh trade.

According to the PTI report, he and another man pushed her to consume alcohol and molested her.

The woman filed a police complaint on Tuesday, leading to the registration of a FIR against the two men under Indian Penal Code sections for rape, molestation, and criminal intimidation. The suspects were also booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, PTI report stated.