The City Task Force (CTF) busted a hi-tech prostitution racket near the last bus stop in PM Palem here on Friday.

Based on a tip-off, a team, led by ACP I. Chittibabu and inspector Illyas Mohammed, raided an independent house, arrested four organisers, and rescued four girls. Three of the organisers and the rescued girls were from West Bengal.

The CTF booked a trafficking case under IPC Section 370 A on the organisers.

The main organisers — Ruma Khan (27), Idris Ali (35), and Al Amim Sheikh (30) — are accused of luring girls from interior parts of West Bengal and engaging them in flesh trade.

Manohar, a native of Visakhapatnam, is allegedly their contact person. He has also been arrested and handed over to the PM Palem police.

Talking to The Hindu , two of the rescued girls said that they knew Ruma as she too belonged to their village.

“We have been brought here on the pretext of sight-seeing,” they said.

The main organisers and three of the rescued girls are from Bashirhat, a suburb in 24 Paraganas near Kolkata. One girl is from Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Among the rescued girls, one is believed to be the sister of Ruma Khan and the other her niece. Mr. Chittibabu said that Ruma Khan had been running the show with the help of Manohar since the last six months.

Ruma, who had earlier worked as a dancer in a bar in the Chembur area of Mumbai, took to this trade after the dance bars were closed in Mumbai.

This case substantiates the point made by Sunita Krishnan of Prajwala and Charu Sinha, IG CID of Telangana, which was reported in these columns, that close relatives or people known to the victims indulge in trafficking.

CTF personnel arrest three persons from West Bengal and a local conduit, and rescue four girls