Massage parlour owner arrested for running sex racket

Prashant Acharya, EOI, SILIGURI, 24 Dec 2016: The Matigara police arrested two persons on Friday night for allegedly running a sex racket at a massage parlour in a shopping mall in Siliguri.

Diki Pradhan, the owner of Kims Unisex Salon, and a man named Kallol Bhaduri of Malbazar were arrested following a raid.

A number of massage parlours and spas located in the basement of the mall have been blacklisted for allegedly running sex rackets over the last couple of years.

Police have raided their premises several times and arrested the owners, but the racket has not stopped, prompting other businesses in the vicinity to blame such parlours for a decline in their sales. Some are even planning to vacate the area saying the place is getting notorious.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the shop owners said, "The mall's basement area is known as Chota Thailand as girls working in the massage parlours unabashedly try to entice visitors."

Kims Unisex has been sealed and a case of immoral trafficking lodged against the two arrested.

A few months ago, the detective department of the Siliguri Metropolitan Police arrested six people including the owner of a spa on charges of running a sex racket from the same area.

Local sources said that on Friday night, the Matigara police raided two parlours for running sex rackets and sealed them, but one of them was unsealed later.

Siliguri Police Commissioner C. S. Lepcha said one of the parlours was unsealed as she found no evidence of immoral acts being committed in it. Pradhan and Bhaduri were produced at the Siliguri Court today and are under judicial custody, she added