MUMBAI/BENGALURU:The police in Kolhapur, Maharashtra on Tuesday arrested seven people from Karnataka for their alleged involvement in an illegal sex party. At least four of the arrested people are believed to be Karnataka government employees.
The police raided Indu Shankar Krishi Paryatan Kendra, an agriculture tourism centre, in Panhala at midnight suspecting that it was a front for high profile prostitution.
During the raid they found eight men and four half clad women dancing while drunk. The police also seized items worth Rs 16 lakh including imported liquor, cash and mobile phones.
The Karnataka residents Kiran Rajput, Appasaheb Patil, Manjunath Kalghatgi, Nagraj Hanumanthaiah, Hemant Rame Gowda, Shiv Gowda Patil and Arun Muslimari were caught dancing and consuming liquor.
They were in the company of the director of the “tourism centre” Babasaheb Konde and his accomplice Tina alias Narmita Pandit, an alleged trafficker from Odisha.
The police have recorded Hanumanthaiah, Rame Gowda and Muslimari as Karnataka government officials in the station diary. The others’ identity has been registered as contractors and traders. Rajput claimed to the police that he was an assistant to a former Karnataka minister.
The local court has sent all to police custody for four days. The Karnataka government has stated that their Maharashtra counterpart or the police have not informed them about the arrest of its employees. An official with the Karnataka Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) told Express,
“Any action can be taken only after confirming the identity of the accused and after confirming that they are government servants.” When the police reached at the spot two people guarding it fled the scene. The “visitors” at the tourism centre were so drunk they did not even realise that police had surrounded the agricultural tourism spot.