A Ghaziabad spa raid at three centres operating from the same building in Vaishali led to the arrest of 11 people and the rescue of 20 women, according to police. The operation has also triggered an inquiry into police personnel responsible for the area and questions over how the establishments were allowed to function from the commercial premises.
The raid was conducted on Monday night by a team led by Rishul, deputy commissioner of police for Trans Hindon, in the Kaushambi police station area. Police entered three centres operating from Lawanjanti Plaza: Pure Therapy Spa Centre, All Spa Centre and Mountain Spa Centre.
According to the police account reported by Live Hindustan, people at the centres attempted to flee when the team arrived. They were caught after the premises were surrounded. Police said objectionable materials were recovered during searches of the three centres.
The initial investigation found that women were allegedly brought to the centres with promises of employment. Police said some were then induced or blackmailed into providing sexual services. The operators allegedly shared photographs and videos of women with customers through WhatsApp and sent the location of the spa after a deal was finalised.
Police further said that women received only 25 to 30 per cent of the money collected from customers. These details remain part of the initial investigation and will have to be established through the police case and subsequent legal proceedings.
The arrested people include Gaurav Jain of Gandhi Nagar in Delhi, Nilesh of Khoda Colony, Narayan Singh of Saraswati Vihar, Tejendra Giri of Motihari in Bihar, Anshu of Bhovapur, Sachin Jain of Gandhi Nagar in Delhi, Ankit of Makanpur, Faheem of Vaishali, Sahil of Kala Patthar Marg, Mukesh Garg of Rajendra Nagar and Sumeer Nayyar of Krishna Apra Society in Indirapuram.
Police identified Anshu as the operator of Pure Spa Centre and Sahil as the operator of Mountain Spa Centre. Meena, also known as Veena, who allegedly operated All Spa Centre, was not arrested and is being sought by the police.
The case has also widened into an examination of local enforcement. The deputy commissioner had suspended two outpost in-charges and two other police personnel the previous week after two hookah bars were found operating in the area. In the spa-centre case, the concerned outpost in-charge, beat police officer and other personnel are also being investigated.
Rishul said further action would be taken based on the findings of the inquiry. Police will also investigate who rented the shops to the centres and identify the owners of the premises. The owners are expected to be questioned as part of the next stage of the investigation.
