MYSORE: Is there a nexus between prostitution and the counterfeit currency racket in which Bangladeshi infiltrators were arrested in different parts of the state?
Mysore police recently arrested some Bangladeshi pimps and rescued prostitutes. A senior police official on condition of anonymity, said the fact that most of the illegal Bangladeshi migrants involved in counterfeit currency and prostitution rackets are known to each other and have links with 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal, gave rise to the possibility of the nexus.
Bangladeshi pimps Mohammed Sajjad Khan alias Mohammed Green Khan and Babu alias Bappi Sheikh, who were arrested in Bangalore rural following recent raids on lodges in Mysore district, were supplying prostitutes to Pune, Hubli, Bellary, Bangalore, Mysore and other places.
The police are investigating the matter in view of a Central Intelligence report, which suspects that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is trying to weaken the Indian economy by pumping fake currency notes into the market.
The official said that the Bangladeshi girls who look like Indians, may be ‘informers’ in the guise of prostitutes. “They could be used to get close to people to fulfil their hidden agenda, which is expanding the fake currency racket in different parts of the country,” sources said.
However, the cops are not optimistic about exposing the real truth. According to sources, the law does not support the arrest of the prostitutes as they are considered victims and the police have no proof to claim that the girls are from Banglasdesh, as they have documents to prove that they are Indians.
Meanwhile, two of the Bangladeshi girls - Rona alias Roona and Latha alias Muktar, who were sent to a rehabilitation centre managed by the NGO Odanadi escaped within a week. In a missing complaint, the NGO has said that the girls, who went for a bath on April 8, scaled the compound wall and escaped.
When contacted SP R Dileep said the police has taken the matter seriously and are investigating.
Three more Bangladeshi girls were rescued from a brothel house in Ramabhainagar in Mysore South police station limits on Friday. The CCB police who raided a house based on complaints from the locals, arrested Ganesh, Ramesh and Balakrishna along with three girls. Around 11 Bangladeshi girls were rescued in less than a month.