Navi Mumbai: Navi Mumbai Police's Anti-Human Trafficking Unit has successfully busted an online sex racket operating in the city. Three individuals—including two pimps and a rickshaw driver—have been arrested, while five women forced into prostitution were rescued from a rented flat in Nerul. The police have launched a search for three more suspects linked to the trafficking network.
The police acted on specific intelligence that an online prostitution ring was being operated in Navi Mumbai. On July 8, officers posed as customers and contacted the number listed on an online platform. The suspects instructed the decoy to book a room at Hotel Golden Oak in Turbhe, and later sent a woman to the location via auto-rickshaw. As soon as the transaction was confirmed, police raided the hotel room and took the woman into custody.
Interrogation revealed she had been sent by Rajeshkumar Munna Yadav, who managed the online operation. Using digital tracking, police arrested Yadav from Juhugaon in Vashi.
Further investigation led authorities to a flat in Nerul, where two more women were found. The police found that the women were recruited and managed by Shambhu Munilal Upadhyay and Bobby alias Maqbool Ansari.
Following these leads, police arrested rickshaw driver Mukesh Rai, who had been transporting women to various lodges, along with another pimp, Dinesh Dangi. Two additional women were rescued from their custody.
"All five victims were removed from the trafficking network and placed under protection. The three arrested accused have been remanded in police custody till July 14. We are trying to locate the absconding suspects—Shambhu Upadhyay, Bobby alias Maqbool Ansari, and Dhiru," Assistant commissioner of police (crime branch) Ajay Landge said.
According to Senior Police Inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade, the accused operated by advertising online and interacting with clients via WhatsApp. Lodges were booked in Turbhe, Nerul, and Vashi, where the women were sent. Clients were charged Rs 4,000 per visit—half of which was given to the women, while the remaining sum was divided among the pimps, the police said.
