BENGALURU: Mico Layout police on Monday raided a luxury villa in BTM Layout and busted a hi-tech prostitution racket with the arrest of a gang of four men. During questioning, the arrested men revealed the name of a head constable of Parappana Agrahara police station who helped the gang.
Police identified the arrested as Usman, Naresh Singh, Farvaze Khan and Sharavana. Police also said a fifth person, Rishab, is on the run. Three women were rescued from the villa.
Police said the gang charged customers between `25,000 and `30,000. On Monday, they had collected online payments of `67,000 from customers. The gang also carried swiping machines allowing customers to swipe debit/credit cards. Four swiping machines were seized.
A police official said Usman, the prime accused, had created a website to attract high-end customers, including businessmen, government officials and techies around the area. He had taken the villa on lease from a businessman after convincing the owner that only the CEO and guests of a corporate company would be staying at the villa. The owner was unaware that his house was being used to run a prostitution racket, said police.
Police said Usman brought the women from Mumbai on weekends, paying for their flight tickets. He posted photos and phone numbers of the girls on the website and asked customers to make payments online.
He also shared photos of the women through WhatsApp to his regular customers. Acting on a tip-off, police conducted the raid on Monday when the women were about to leave for the airport.
Police said during interrogation, the gang members revealed that the head constable of Parappana Agrahara police station, Karibasappa, had allegedly helped them in running the brothel for the past three years. He had allegedly assured the gang that police would not interfere in their business.
“Based on their statements, an internal enquiry has been ordered. We have also collected phone call records to verify the facts. If Karibasappa is involved in this activity, action will be taken against him,” a senior police officer said.