Pune police book four agents after alleged sex racket found at Sangamwadi five-star hotel

Pimps running prostitution in Pune are moving away from cheap lodges and ordinary hotels towards five-star hotels, police say. The Pune Police's anti-human trafficking cell recently raided the Crown Plaza hotel in Sangamwadi and took two women into custody. The action brought the changing pattern to light.

Police said they received information from their sources that young women were allegedly being made to engage in prostitution at the five-star hotel. Before sending a team, police verified the information. Police Inspector (Crime) Ashalata Khapre, who led the operation, said: "During questioning, the two women who were rescued said they were from Delhi and worked as models. They had come to Pune from the national capital through agents for this alleged activity."

Further investigation led police to an interstate network of agents. The network is alleged to have arranged to bring the women to Pune. Police have registered a case against four "agents". Three of them have been identified as Rohan alias Rajkumar (32), Vivek alias Mayank Kabir (34) and Vikram alias Piyush (34). All three are from Assam. The fourth accused is yet to be identified.

Police said the accused agents allegedly helped bring the women from Delhi to Pune, and coordinated the entire arrangement online. Khapre said that in such raids the rescued women are reluctant to talk about the agents and their network, which makes it hard for investigators to extract information. She said: "Girls were rescued from a hotel in Yerawada last month too. Such cases take time to trace, because agents run this illegal trade online and most of the women are from other states."

According to Khapre, "These women are often educated and from good families, so they do not reveal anything immediately. We have to counsel them before taking information. The entire racket is run by agents sitting in other states." Police officials have appealed to women not to fall for agents offering modelling work or other tempting offers of easy money, as such offers can be used as a pretext to push them into prostitution.

Police officials said investigators are no longer confined to old-style lodges. They are also examining how interstate agents are using online bookings and well-known hotels. An officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Such rackets were earlier linked to lodges and small establishments, but now agents are allegedly targeting well-known hotels, in the belief that they will escape police attention."

Police said agents based in states outside Maharashtra, such as Assam, talk to customers and book rooms through online platforms and messaging apps such as WhatsApp. Bookings are often made in an individual's name, which does not raise immediate suspicion. One reason cited for the shift to bigger hotels is that agents can charge customers more there. The anonymity of online booking and the movement of people from one state to another make investigation harder.

Police clarified that the discovery of alleged prostitution in a hotel does not by itself prove that its management or staff are involved. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gauhar Hasan said: "The name of such a large hotel has come up for the first time. According to our investigation, the hotel has no direct involvement in this case. The rooms were booked by some people and we caught them."

Police officials also said hotels have been advised to verify guests properly and to keep booking details genuine. They said identifying the agents, tracing their contacts and understanding how women are brought into the city require careful questioning and coordination with different states. Reaching these agents is essential to prevent further exploitation.