Ghatkopar Police Bust Prostitution Racket; Woman Arrested for Supplying Women to Hotels in Mumbai

The Ghatkopar police have busted an alleged prostitution racket operating in Andheri, Sakinaka, and Ghatkopar, detaining a 38-year-old woman, Kavita Mane, from Kandivali East. She is accused of exploiting financially vulnerable women by luring them with money and arranging their services for clients. According to a Free Press Journal report, , on March 30, Inspector Navnath Rangat of Ghatkopar police received information from a confidential informant that a woman named Kavita was supplying girls to hotels in Ghatkopar, Sakinaka, and Andheri for sexual services. The police, using a dummy customer, made contact with Mane, who allegedly sent photos of two other women along with herself to the decoy.

Mane allegedly demanded Rs30,000 for each girl, totaling Rs90,000 for all three, from the client before arranging their services. Acting on this, police lured Mane to a lodge on the Ghatkopar-Andheri Link Road with the dummy customer. They prepared bundles of currency, including two genuine Rs500 notes on top and fake notes designed to resemble Rs500 bills from the Indian Children’s Bank to trap the accused.During the sting operation, Mane arrived with two women, aged 32 and 31. She was apprehended while allegedly collecting money for sexual services for one of the women. Upon questioning, the women revealed that Mane had promised them Rs15,000 each if they provided sexual services to the client.Police constable Abhijeet Somwanshi, 34, lodged the complaint, and Ghatkopar police have registered a case under Section 143(3) of the Bharatiy Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Act and Sections 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Further investigation is underway.

Earlier, a similar case was reported in Navi Mumbai, where a father of  two minor girls was named as a key accused in a prostitution racket busted by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Navi Mumbai Police. According to the police, the case came to light after senior police inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade of the AHTU was told that a 25-year-old man was supplying minor girls to customers in Navi Mumbai and charging them ₹1.5 lakh each. “Since the girls were minors and could not be checked into hotels or lodges, the accused used to drop them at locations specified by clients,” the officer said. Acting on the tip-off, the AHTU deployed a decoy customer and laid a trap near the Jagannath Changa Koli Chowk in Sector 11. The accused, a resident of Koparkhairane, was arrested during the operation and the two girls aged 16 and 14, originally from Rajasthan, were rescued.The girls then told the police that their own father had pushed them into prostitution.  A case was registered at CBD Belapur police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.