Police on Wednesday night raided a spa centre in Odhav and booked its owner and manager for allegedly operating an illegal prostitution racket under the cover of massage services.
According to police, the raid was carried out at “New Look Spa” located at Shop No. 207 on the second floor of Jhanvi Arcade on S P Ring Road in Odhav after officials received a tip-off about suspected illegal activities at the premises.
Police identified the spa owner as Manish Kumar Panchal, 39, a resident of Khodiyarnagar in Nikol. He is accused of bringing women from outside Gujarat and employing them at the spa for commercial sexual exploitation. The second accused, Rahim Rajkumar Borjola, 26, originally from Tripura, allegedly worked as the manager of the establishment.
According to Sub-Inspector D I Patel, police deployed a decoy customer after receiving information that customers were allegedly being offered sexual services in exchange for money.
The raid was conducted around 8.20 pm on May 13 in the presence of panch witnesses and female police personnel. Police said the decoy customer allegedly handed over marked currency notes to the manager after negotiations for sexual services.
During the search operation, police found several women and customers inside different rooms of the spa. Statements recorded during the investigation alleged that some of the women, originally from Tripura, had been working at the spa for the past few months and were receiving salaries ranging between ₹15,000 and ₹18,000 per month.
Police also recovered cash allegedly collected from customers at the reception counter, including the marked notes handed to the decoy customer.
Officials said the ages and identities of the women found at the premises are being verified to determine whether any minors were involved.
An offence has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and other applicable laws.