NOVOTEL STAFF GRILLED AFTER COPS BUST ESCORT RACKET
After an undercover operation by the Crime Branch smashed a ring of escorts who would allegedly film clients at Juhuโs Novotel hotel and use the clips to extort money from them, the crime branch on Saturday summoned three of the hotelโs staff members and recorded their statements.
According to the police, the escort service operated online and supplied โmodelsโ to clients, who were surreptitiously recorded in intimate moments and blackmailed later.
After getting some complaints, additional police commissioner KMM Prasanna asked Unit 9 of the Crime Branch to probe the matter, after which assistant police inspector Nitin Patil of the branchโs Bandra unit approached the escort agency posing as a client. The agent was shown the rate card: Rs 15,000 for two hours, Rs 25,000 for four hours, and Rs 40,000 for more than that.
They sent pictures of some models to the inspector and communicated only through WhatsApp calls,โ said inspector Asha Korke of the Bandra unit of the Crime Branch.
The inspector played along and booked a room โ number 207 โ at Novotel, as instructed, under a fake name. After some communication through a pimp, a girl arrived at the room around 10 pm on Saturday, but she wasnโt the one from the photograph. โShe did not look like a model at all,โ said assistant inspector Patil.
When the cops in the room started questioning her about the pimp, he presumably heard it as she had been recording and relaying the conversation to him, Patil said. โIn no time the hotel staff came up and threatened the cops that theyโd call the police if they did not leave the girl alone. I asked them to call whoever they want,โ said inspector Korke, who was present in the room at the time.
Investigations revealed the cops learnt that many phone calls were exchanged between the girl, the pimp and the hotel.โSeveral calls have been made between the pimp, who is wanted in the case, and the hotel staff. The girl, too, called up the hotel many times,โ said Korke.
For their part, the hotel management said that they usually call guests down if thereโs a visitor but they did not verify the person in this case, nor called the decoy officer to ask if there was a visitor, Korke said.
While the girl has identified herself to the crime branch cops as Shobha, the hotel staff that went up to the room asked if Aisha was in the room. โThey asked for her by her real name. The pimp knew this was a problem,โ inspector Korke said.
While the girl has identified herself to the crime branch cops as Shobha, the hotel staff that went up to the room asked if Aisha was in the room. โThey asked for her by her real name. The pimp knew this was a problem,โ inspector Korke said.
She also said that nobody can enter the hotel elevator without an access card but the girl made it to the room without any hitch. โThis canโt happen without the help of hotel staff,โ Korke said. When grilled over the reason behind allowing the girl inside the room, the hotel staff had no answers, she said.
โWe will investigate the role of the hotel staff in detail and will call them again,โ said crime branch additional commissioner Prasanna.
The management at Novotel has denied any involvement in the ring. Manish Dayya, general manager of Accor Hotels which runs the Novotel, told Mumbai Mirror: โThe booking came from a genuine online booking source and the moment we got to know about the undercover operation, we gave our full support to the police officials. We do not support such activities and none of our team members are involved. We will further be extending our full cooperation to the investigating authorities.โ
Link ::
http://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/...s-bust-escort-racket/articleshow/58876576.cms
Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Tapatalk