NEW DELHI: The head of the Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, on Friday alleged that her family was receiving death threats after the agency launched a crackdown on prostitution rackets being run from spa centres in the national capital.
She said she had written a complaint to Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik regarding the matter.
Delhi Police, however, did not respond when asked about the allegations.
Maliwal said that through the DCW’s sustained efforts, several prostitution rackets had been busted, FIRs had been registered against spa owners running such rackets, and several spas allegedly engaged in prostitution had been shut down across the capital.
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“I have been informed that the prostitution racket running in spas has a deep nexus and is being operated by 10 to 12 bigwigs in the capital,” she said.
Maliwal said that her husband Navin Jaihind had on Thursday received threatening messages on WhatsApp from some spa owners.
“The screenshots of these messages, along with the audio clips sent in the messages, are attached herewith as ‘Annexure A’. Further, a threatening call against me and my husband has also been received on the 181 Women Helpline, and the audio clip for the same has also been attached herewith as ‘Annexure B’. These messages contain direct threats to kill and assault me and my family. The fact that they have tried to approach my husband instead of approaching me directly reveals their plan to target and intimidate my family,” the DCW said.
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Calls and messages sent to Delhi police spokesperson MS Randhawa by the this newspaper remained unanswered.
Earlier, the DCW issued a notice to Justdial.com seeking information on the registration of spa centres on their portal. The Commission in the last few days has conducted several inspections of spa centres across Delhi and has busted sex rackets in these centres. The Commission has been informed that advertisements for spa and massage centres are available on website Justdial.com as well.
Sex rackets at spa centres:
* Earlier this month, the DCW raided three spa centres and found that they were running a sex racket.
* Four FIRs have been registered in Delhi in connection with sex racket cases over the past few days and many girls have been rescued, the DCW chief has said.
* The DCW chief has demanded a ban on cross-gender massage in closed rooms.