OUR CORRESPONDENT
DIGBOI: A prostitution racket was busted by Digboi Police and seven persons were arrested, including the proprietor of Digboi Tourist Lodge, in the Tinsukia district on Thursday.
Of the seven girls rescued during the raid from the lodge which had reportedly turned into a prostitution hub, four were minors while three were stated to be adults hailing from different parts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts.
Based on a tip-off, the team of Tinsukia cops raided the licensed business centre located along National Highway 52 B in Digboi Golai area in the wee hours on Wednesday and held as many as six customers from two rooms on the premises of the lodge.
According to police, the owner of the lodge, Pankaj Baruah was also arrested on Thursday afternoon for running the sex racket. Baruah, counted among the renowned businessmen of Digboi, runs a network of hotel businesses in several locations of Assam. Obtaining a government license from the Assam Tourism department, he has been running the trade in a pristine location sharing a common border with the DPS boys' hostel on one side.
The arrested accused were identified as Asif Ansari (24) of Margherita station Para, Bijoy Sankar Agarwal (44) of Arunachal's Khonsa, Jalal Uddin Talukdar (40) of Khonsa Upper market, Arif Shah (20) of Margherita's Ledu, Ansar Ali (20) of Margherita Ledu, and Ajay Munda (25) of Dorjugaon Kaziranga.
Based on Digboi PS Case No 129/22 u/s 370 a/372/373/376 (i)/376(iii)/109 IPC r/w 4 POSCO Act, the accused have been forwarded to jail on Thursday. However, efforts were afoot to crack the network of those involved in the heinous act of flesh trade.
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