Ahmedabad Police on Wednesday night busted an alleged prostitution racket being run from a hotel near Odhav SP Ring Road and booked the hotel owner and his wife under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
According to Odhav police, the raid was carried out at Hotel King Palace, situated on the third floor of Crystal Avenue near Odhav SP Ring Road, after officers received a tip-off that women from outside Gujarat were allegedly being brought to the hotel and forced into prostitution for financial gain.
The accused have been identified as Rajubhai Panchal, 57, and his wife Bobby Panchal, 39, both residents of Nikol. The complaint was filed by Police Sub-Inspector D I Patel of Odhav Police Station.
Police said information about the alleged prostitution activities was received around 6.20 pm on May 27. A dummy customer was then sent to the hotel with marked currency notes worth ₹2,000.
According to investigators, the dummy customer allegedly approached the hotel management seeking sexual services. After the deal was allegedly finalised, the customer alerted the police team, which immediately conducted a raid on the premises.
During the operation, police searched several hotel rooms and allegedly found multiple women and customers inside. The marked currency notes handed to the dummy customer were also reportedly recovered from the hotel counter.
Officials said five women from West Bengal, Punjab and Kutch were rescued from the hotel. A housekeeping staff member working at the hotel was also detained for questioning.
Police alleged that the accused couple had been running the prostitution racket by bringing women from outside the state and using the hotel premises for commercial sexual activities.
Cash worth ₹4,100 and other materials were seized from the hotel during the raid.
Further investigation is under way to determine whether a larger trafficking network was involved and to identify other people linked to the alleged racket.