BHUBANESWAR: IN a new turn of events in the Uzbekistan woman case, police arrested the caretaker of the duplex where the foreign national was staying and recovered three mobile phones from his possession on Wednesday.
The caretaker, Tapas Jana (26), is a resident of Midnapore in West Bengal and was arrested under Sections 3, 4, 5 of Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.
Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said, objectionable items were recovered from the duplex in Patia during police search on Tuesday, leading to the arrest of Tapas for his alleged role in the racket. Infocity police have registered a case in this regard. The DCP said, they suspect the involvement of two to three persons in the case.
“We are examining the call records of the mobile phones recovered from Tapas and the iPhone of Uzbek woman. We are also verifying whether the house owner is also involved in the racket and to whom he had given the duplex on rent,” he added. Sources said, the duplex owner is possibly a businessman.
Police have reportedly recovered pictures of several women, including those of the foreign national, from the Whatsapp chats of Tapas.
The Commissionerate Police have so far not established the nationality of the woman, who claimed to be a native of Tashkent.Cops are investigating the nexus between city-based sex racket kingpins and pimps in New Delhi, from where allegedly foreign national women are traded to the city.
Cops have maintained that there is no involvement of sex racket mastermind Sunil Meher, who is now languishing in jail, behind the alleged flesh trade which was going on in Infocity area.