GHAZIABAD – On Thursday Indian police arrested a 45-year-old lady along with three accomplices who allegedly ran a prostitution racket through social media and WhatsApp.
According to police officials, the woman operated from a flat in Shalimar Garden and has been operating the ‘friendship club’ through messaging app WhatsApp for the past three years.
The arrested woman, better known as ‘Tara aunty’ was arrested with Rajiv Sethi and two other accomplices who hail from Ashok Vihar. Tara and Sethi both reside in separate flats at Shalimar Garden.
Tara is allegedly an active member of dozens of groups on WhatsApp and remains on the lookout for customers. She has been managing her prostitution group from the last ten years but became tech savvy from last three years and harnessed most popular messaging application WhatsApp to boost her business.
“She also stays in touch with women who are in this business and are looking for customers. She then demands a specific amount from the men to be paid to the women and charges a 50% commission for arranging meetings. The commission ranges anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000 depending on the customer she gets,” a police source said.
Tara was managing her business rather well until local police was mobilised after a the case of a gang rape of a minor.
A 16-year-old girl who was abducted from a train en route Shamli from Roorkee, and ended up in her flat in Shalimar Garden on March 4, reached out to police.
In her statement, the girl maintained that Tara handed her over to several men first, and then finally handed her over to a woman. The woman set her free on March 13.
Police have lodged an FIR into the incident and the victim would be brought before the child welfare committee for further directions.
