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Cops monitoring cell phone conversations to track down militants operating in Uttar Pradesh unwittingly stumbled on a major call girl racket involving politicians, bureaucrats and even some senior police officials.
The arrested call girls were mostly students of local colleges and inmates of some working womens' hostels.
Giving details of the crackdown, Lucknow's Senior Superintendent of Police B B Bakshi said, "City Superintendent of Police (east) Rajesh Pandey on Saturday heard a man offer to deliver a 'consignment', which the officer thought to be of weapons. Within no time, the Specials Operations Group (SOG) team swung into action and reached the point of delivery."
"Eventually, they found a young girl and a man in a hotel in Lucknow's fashionable Hazratganj area and stumbled upon the call girl racket."
The girl's confessions led the police to the kingpin of the racket - a Food Corporation of India (FCI) employee who had been suspended on corruption charges about three years ago, but continued to live in style in a palatial bungalow in Lucknow.
His wife and daughter were also allegedly neck deep in the operation, which was being carried out from his bungalow.
His arrest was followed by that of nearly a dozen young girls with their respective partners the following day, and eventually led to the exposure of the gang's nexus with politicians, bureaucrats and police officials.
Of the two dozen persons already arrested so far, one happens to be the son of a former MLA.
Bakshi, however, declined to name any of the VIPs involved in the racket.
"I do not deny the racket has larger ramifications and I am sure the investigation will lead to more arrests," Bakshi said.
His reticence, and that of the state government, may have something to do with the fact that the girls have named a few ruling party politicians as being among their clients.
"This is not the first flesh trade racket that we have busted. However, due to the involvement of politicians, each time the culprits manage to get away with their political connections," a junior police officer said.
Not very long ago, a SOG team had unearthed a homosexuality racket being run under the garb of a NGO, ostensibly working for AIDS awareness.
A well-known politician and some bureaucrats were found to be involved in the racket.
However, after keeping a low key for some time, the NGO was back in business with the patronage of the powers-that-be.
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