MYSURU: The Vijayanagara police in Mysuru, in association with NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe, busted a sex racket where young girls were pushed into prostitution.
The police arrested Shobha, a resident of Bengaluru, and her accomplice, Tulsi Kumar for demanding Rs 20 lakh for arranging sex with a minor girl who had reached puberty recently. The police said a superstitious belief that having sexual intercourse with a young virgin girl will cure many mental illnesses is contributing to this racket. There is also a racket to find men facing such problems and supply them with young girls.
Odanadi got a tipoff that Shobha was trying to contact men with such problems. The staff of NGO also got information that a 12-13-year-old girl was shown to some customers through a WhatsApp video. Odanadi immediately alerted senior police officials.
Pretending to be a customer, the NGO staff managed to gain the trust of the woman and asked her to bring the minor to Mysuru. The woman immediately agreed to arrange a meeting. As per the plan, the woman had promised to come with the girl by 2 pm on Saturday.
Odanadi founders K V Stanley and M L Parashurama and the Vijayanagar police laid a trap to catch the woman red-handed. They told her to come to the Government Girls’ Children’s Home in Vijayanagar 4th Phase. The woman brought the girl along with a man. The man who accompanied them stood at a distance and watched carefully.
Members of the Odanadi who had arranged the meet came in a car at the spot and began to negotiate with the woman. Meanwhile, the police surrounded the woman while she was demanding Rs 20 lakh to arrange for sex with the girl. At this time, the woman introduced the girl as her daughter, then her niece, later her adopted daughter and finally confessed that she was in the prostitution business. The man who accompanied her said he was the woman’s husband.
The police swung into action, took the girl into their custody and apprehended Shobha and Tulsi Kumar. The girl, who has been rescued, was handed over to the children’s home, while the police produced the accused before the judge who remanded them in judicial custody.
It was reported that the girl is studying in Class 6. The police are trying to gather more information regarding the girl and where the woman found her. The Vijayanagar police have registered a case.