Sex racket busted in hi-profile Spa

GUWAHATI, June 7: A prostitution racket, which was being run under the garb of a salon and spa at Paltan Bazar, one of the city’s prime and busy area, was busted by the Guwahati Police on Thursday.

Three men, who ran the spa salon and 10 female were arrested by a team of Crime Branch of Guwahati Police after they conducted a raid at the salon named as ‘Infinity’ posing as customers on Thursday afternoon. Among the three males arrested, one was Ashu Singh, the owner of the salon and another was Vijay Kumar, a staff of the salon.

Sources said that the 10 arrested females were aged between 21 and 30 years. A few of them were believed to be trained beauticians and their job was to trick customers, who visited the salon for hair cut or spa, into “other services” that included sexual pleasures, said a source in the police.

City Police received a tip-off about flesh trade being run under the garb of the salon. “We sent our personnel along with informers to the salon as decoys. Our personnel were lured and after the deal was finalised, the decoys alerted the raiding team waiting outside the salon in plain clothes. The arrests followed,” an official said.

Even though the police refused to divulge more, sources said the police has information about similar flesh trade racket being run at many other spa salons in the city. The city has witnessed a mushrooming of spa salons in the last few years.

Prostitution in these spa salons has turned hi-tech with business transactions being carried out via smartphones and apps, a source said, adding that most of those engaged in this profession solicit business through WhatsApp and coordinate on the meeting places and timing. The arrested females told the police that they were willingly involved in such racket for quick money, said a source.