Prostitution racket busted at IAS officer's Andheri flat

The Oshiwara police busted a high-profile prostitution racket operating from an apartment in Meera Tower in the posh locality of Lokhandwala late last night.

The apartment, B-1402, in which the girls were trapped with their modelling agent who doubled up as their pimp, belongs to an IAS officer.

A police official, requesting anonymity, said, "The apartment is registered in the name of IAS officer Shruti Mantri."

Five girls were rescued from the apartment B-1402 of the building that houses several administrative and police officers as well as some Bollywood personalities.

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Cops said the rescued girls happen to be actresses working in daily television soaps. One has even signed a film. The apartment had been rented by model coordinator Imtiaz Khan, who was allegedly using the flat for flesh trade.

Cops said they received a tip-off that some of the occupants of the building were indulging in prostitution, following which a bogus customer was sent to verify the input. As the decoy confirmed the information the cops had received, the police team raided the premises.

API Ravindra Patil of Oshiwara police said, "We got a tip-off and set up a decoy, who posed as a client and began bargaining with the pimp. Initially, the pimp quoted Rs 1 lakh for a short-time service but the deal was finally negotiated for Rs 25,000. As the amount was handed over and one of the actresses was set to walk out of the apartment with the decoy, we raided the premises and detained them."

The accused, Imtiaz, has been arrested and booked under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act. He will be produced in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court today. The rescued women will be sent to the rehabilitation centre after medical tests.

AK Singh, manager of the building, said, "Even we are surprised that such activities are going on in our building. It has come as a shock to us."

However, residents alleged that they had complained to some of the IAS officers in the past about strangers visiting the flat but no action had been taken.

Cops said some of the call girls would demand as much as Rs 4 lakh for a deal but would settle it at Rs 1.5 lakh after negotiation. u00a0