Delhi-NRC: Sleaze biz hits many massage parlours

The commercial hub of Noida Sector 18 was unusually abuzz on Sunday night as 14 police teams comprising 45 senior officials simultaneously raided and sealed 14 massage parlours - many of them were found running sex rackets.

Ten men and 25 women, including some from Thailand and other countries, were arrested. Cash and beer, besides used and unused condoms, were seized from the premises whose owners are being booked under the stringent Gangsters Act. While the spotlight remains on the current case, a Mail Today investigation has revealed how this sleaze business is booming across NCR.

A host of massage parlours in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad are running prostitution rackets, as enforcement authorities have turned a blind eye to their operations in many cases for obvious reasons, it has been found. These dens run their websites and operate from shops, malls and hotels, engaging foreigners and offering services that come depending on how deep their clients' pockets are, multiple enquiries made to their representatives in Delhi-NCR revealed.

One just has to Google "24x7 spa services" and a list of such massage parlours with landline and mobile numbers is displayed on the screen.

Calls are mostly attended by female receptionists, who eventually mention sex services. They also mention hourly rates and details of girls, including foreign nationals.

Many centers are wooing customers online by advertising on Facebook with code words for "extra" services, Mail Today has found. In Delhi, most such massage parlours were found operating from Connaught Place and South Delhi areas such as Lajpat Nagar, Hauz Khas, Munirka and Malviya Nagar.

Many of these seedy facilities Mail Today spoke to claimed that the monthly bribe to enforcement authorities ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000, depending upon locations and footfalls. "Also, they charge extra when a special drive is run against us," said a man who claimed to be paying Rs 20,000 a month for his West Delhi centre's smooth operations.

These massage parlours claim to have a nexus with human traffickers who supply girls, both "permanent and guests". "Depending on the demand of customers, girls are arranged. Mainly, customers prefer minors and foreigners," he said.

DCW TALKS TOUGH

Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), said she has written several letters to the Delhi Police, seeking action against such rackets, but nothing has happened. "The big question is, how these massage parlours are being run in every area of NCR," said Maliwal. On May 20, DCW busted a sex racket operating from a mall in Delhi's Rohini. Officials found 11 girls working there.

POLICE RESPONSE

Delhi Police Spokesperson Madhur Verma said that vigilance and internal probes are conducted when there are complaints against cops for allowing sex rackets after taking bribes. "We conduct raids on these massage parlours when there are complaints," he said. Senior Noida Police official Vineet Jaiswal said Sunday's raids were conducted on the directions of SSP Vaibhav Krishna as he has decided to "clean up" the area. Krishna told Mail Today that he ordered the raids based on secret information about illegal activities being carried out from these centres.

The police in Gurugram also made similar claims. "Beat cops have been asked to be vigilant. Mostly, we conduct raids after we receive specific inputs from our staff, informers or customers," said an ACP.

In April, the Gurugram Police sent decoy customers and arrested two women, aged 20-25, from a massage parlour in DLF Phase-1 for being involved in a sex racket. Similarly, in January, five women and the manager of a massage parlour operating out of mall in Gurugram were arrested for running a sex racket.

"Working in a massage parlour is safer than working in a brothel or visiting random places," said one of the women, out on bail.