Gehana Vasisth porn racket: Cops look for kingpin

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The alleged brain behind the porn racket busted by the Property Cell of the Mumbai police is a mystery man who never appeared before any of the arrested accused and always communicated with them over Internet calls. Investigations have revealed the man, identified as Yash Thakur, uploaded the videos to his websites - Fliz Movies and Neufliksbelong - and used to send money to the accounts of his workers. The money trail is the only link to nail him.

The Property Cell of the Mumbai police recently busted a gang that was involved in making porn films in the name of short films for OTT platforms. They arrested actor Gehana Vasisth along with eight others in the case.

An accused in the case, actor Gehana Vasisth, at Quilla Court. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Vasisth has told the police that she was making films for OTT platforms when she was approached by Thakur two years ago, and he offered her good money per video, following which she joined him.

Thakur's name cropped up during the interrogation of Vasisth, who told the police that he sponsored the porn films for his websites. She also told the cops that despite working with Thakur for the past two years, she has never met him.

Police said Yash Thakur describes himself as a foreign national but no one knows his exact location. Representation pic

According to the police, Thakur always made calls from unknown numbers or Internet calls. Thakur describes himself as a foreign national but no one knows his exact location.

"So far nine accused have been arrested in this case, out of which five accused have taken the name of Thakur but none of them have ever met him. The money that has come into the bank accounts of these people is also being investigated. Thakur sent the money through different gateways every time," an officer said, adding, "Today, four of the arrested accused were presented in court. We told the court that they were working for Yash Thakur."

Investigations so far have revealed that the arrested accused used to lure young artists, looking for a break in Bollywood. The police said once the artists were okayed by Thakur, they used to shoot the film in the bungalows of Madh Island, etc. After the shoot, if the video was okayed, Thakur used to send the money from various unknown accounts to one of the accused. The group involved in the network would deduct the cost of production from it and then the remaining amount used to get distributed among them. The accused paid between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for each video to the group. The videos were then uploaded by Thakur on his two websites.