Mumbai Crime: Cops bust sex racket in Vasai; arrest couple, 4 women rescued

The anti-human trafficking cell of the Vasai police, seen with one of the arrested accused, Sandip Pal

The police's anti-human trafficking cell in Vasai busted a high-profile sex racket on Saturday, rescuing four young women and arresting a couple. The police said that most of the victims are educated and even had Masters and MBA degrees, but were forced into sex work. The arrested couple has been identified as Sandip Pal, a mechanical engineer, and his girlfriend Jiya Javdekar. Both the accused are residents of Vasai West.

Discussing their modus operandi, the police said that Pal and Javdekar would find the resumes of these women on job portals. They would then call them for interviews at their Vasai office, and promise them jobs as personal secretaries. Later, they'd morph their photos, and start blackmailing them. Since many of these women did not have jobs, they reluctantly agreed to get into commercial sex work.

According to the police, the accused were using a dating app to approach customers. An officer said, "When we received information about a woman meeting a customer at the Navghar Manikpur ST bus depot, we laid a trap, and managed to rescue the woman." The police also arrested Javdekar who was accompanying her, and later, raided the place at Vasai, from where they were operating the racket, rescuing three other women. Further investigations are on, the officer said.