According to police sources, the investigation into the penthouse prostitution ring has discovered disturbing details.
During questioning, the defendants admitted that they monitored, recruited, trapped, and forced minor girls studying at reputed colleges into prostitution after taking their private recordings in Mangaluru to entertain powerful politicians and top officers from the neighbouring Kerala state.
The involvement of Kerala politicians and bureaucrats in the sex racket is also being investigated by the investigating police. The network operated with their full assistance, and the defendants in the case only admitted select Kerala customers.
According to police sources, the case has been transferred from Mangaluru South Police Station to the City Crime Branch (CCB) due to the importance and sensitivity of the matter.
The details have horrified the authorities, who believe the accused has entrapped many minor college students in the area in the flesh trade. In connection with the matter, the Mangaluru police have arrested three people: a couple and another woman. They also rescued two pre-university college students who were enrolled in well-known colleges in the coastal region.
Shameena, Siddiq, and Ayeshamma have been named as the suspects.
The defendants dispatched teenagers to befriend females in 10th and PUC classes (Class 11, 12) to a penthouse with CCTV cameras once they were friends. The accused would then blackmail them by threatening to make public their private footage and send them to their parents.
The scam, according to authorities, has been going on for a long time, but naïve minor girls have been targeted in response to the clients’ wishes. With the promise of financial assistance, girls with a poor financial background were also enticed.
One of the 17-year-old victims revealed the link when she told a friend about her trauma.
When the situation was brought to the Principal’s attention, she dialled the police helpline. On Thursday, Mangaluru Police Commissioner N. Shahikumar constituted a team led by DCP (Law and Order) Hariram Shankar to conduct searches and apprehend the perpetrators. The authorities are also looking into the possibility of the suspects blackmailing clients. Various parts of the Pocso Act and the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act have been used to file the case.
