Gujarat Police crack down on prostitution racket at four Ahmedabad spas, nine held

Ahmedabad, Aug 8 (IANS) The Gujarat Police’s State Monitoring Cell (SMF) has raided four spas operating on Ahmedabad’s S.G. Highway and nearby areas, arresting nine people and naming 10 others as wanted in separate cases alleging prostitution activities being conducted under the guise of spa services.

The raids were carried out at The Galaxy Spa, Blossom Spa, A9 Spa, and Oranz Spa, which fall under the jurisdictions of the Bodakdev, Satellite, and Vastrapur police stations.

Police said property worth Rs 5.29 lakh was seized during the operations.

According to the State Monitoring Cell, the spas were allegedly being used as brothels, with sex workers being kept at the premises and offered financial benefits from customers.

The cases have been registered under relevant provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

At The Galaxy Spa, located in Shop No. 306 on the third floor of Times Square Complex on Sindhubhavan Road in Bodakdev, police seized four mobile phones, a DVR, eight condoms and cash, among other items, valued at Rs 1.26 lakh.

One person, identified as Bhavik Vithalapara, who was allegedly working as the manager and was found at the spa counter, was arrested.

Four others were named as wanted accused: Kilika Amusi, described as the spa operator; Mohsin Rangrej, also described as a spa operator; Rambabu, a spa manager; and Manish, who allegedly assisted the spa manager.

A case was registered at Bodakdev Police Station under Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and Section 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

At Blossom Spa, situated in Room No. 101 on the first floor of Seesta Business Park on Hebatpur Road in Thaltej, two people were arrested. Police seized four mobile phones, a DVR, cash and other items worth Rs 71,870.

The arrested accused were identified as Bharti Damani, described as a receptionist/therapist, and Ankitkumar Batham, who allegedly assisted at the spa.

Harshvardhan Jadhav, identified as the spa operator, and Kiranbhai, described as the spa manager, were named as wanted accused.

The third raid was conducted at A9 Spa, located on the first and second floors of Wide Angle Multiplex Cinema near Iskcon Cross Roads under the Satellite police station limits.

Police seized six mobile phones, a computer CPU, a laptop, two DVRs, two ATM card-swiping machines, eight condoms, a currency note-counting machine, a KOT machine used for printing slips, two walkie-talkie sets, a UPI scanner, cash and other items. The total value of the seized property was Rs 2.36 lakh.

Three people were arrested in the case: Pravinbhai Vora, identified as the spa operator; Naisad Siddiqui, identified as the spa manager; and Nischal Thakkar, also identified as a spa manager.

Narendrasinh Rathod, identified as the owner of the spa, and Kaushal Thakkar, identified as a spa manager, were named as wanted accused. The fourth raid took place at Oranz Spa near Vastrapur Lake.

Two mobile phones, a laptop, cash and other items worth Rs 95,500 were seized. Three people were arrested. They were identified as Raghuvirsinh Rajput, described as the spa manager, and two customers, Devin Desai and Jaydev Dodiya.

The spa’s owner, Virendrakumar Singh, and manager Manish Ramswaroop Piplivala were named as wanted accused.

The case at Oranz Spa was registered at Vastrapur Police Station under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and Section 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The State Monitoring Cell said its teams conduct action against illegal activities across Gujarat and that the four raids were carried out as part of such action in Ahmedabad city.

–IANS

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