KALYAN: The anti-human trafficking cell of Thane police raided a hotel in Kalyan (east) on Wednesday and busted sex racket. The hotel is owned by Ranjana Patil, wife of BJP corporator Nitin Patil. Six staffers of the hotel were arrested and four women, including a Bangladeshi, were rescued. The Bangladeshi woman was carrying a valid passport and visa.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided Relax Hotel and Garden in wee hours of Wednesday on a tip-off.
The arrested accused were bar manager Harishchandra Shetty (57), cashier Rahul Dutt, and waiters Satyanarayan Pal (42), Ramakanat Mahant (28), Vijay Shetty and Vigyan Shamal (35). They have been sent to police custody for three days. The police said that they will also question Ranjana to find out if she was aware of the racket that was operating in her hotel.
Ravindra Daundkar, the senior police inspector of anti-human trafficking cell, said, “The hotel belongs to Ranjana Patil and we will call her for questioning to find out if she knew about flesh trade in her hotel.”
Talking to TOI, Ranjana’s husband and BJP corporator Nitin Patil said that they had given the hotel on a rental basis with a clause that if the hotelier is caught for any illegal work then he will be responsible for it not the owners.
“After getting the information about the racket, we went to the spot. A police officer, pretending to be a customer, went inside the bar and asked for a girl, on which the bar staff agreed and provided one girl along with a room inside the hotel. Following which, the officer immediately informed us and we raided the place and arrested the staff members,” said a senior police official.
