Seventeen of the 20 message parlours have been shut down following crackdown by Zone 1 police on such facilities during the last fortnight after a sex racket was busted at a spa.
“Over the last two weeks, 17 parlours have shut shop after we started conducting surprise checks in two rounds. We are continuously monitoring their activities,” deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1) Laxmikant Patil said on Thursday. Most of these spas and message parlours are concentrated in the College Road and Gangapur Road areas.
On October 4, the city police had raided a spa at Hallmark junction along College Road and rescued five women who had been forced into prostitution. They arrested three persons, including a customer. Patil said the arrested accused were still in judicial custody, while the spa has been sealed.
After the raid on that spa, many such centres operating across the city shut shop. Police said they would be continuing with the surprise drive to keep an eye on the closed facilities and would take action against those if any objectionable activity was found.
Patil said they conducted two rounds of drive on the 20 parlours falling in the Zone 1 area (of the police commissionerate), comprising Sarkarwada, Gangapur Road, Panchavati, Bhadrakali, Adgaon, Mumbai Naka and Mhasrool areas. Of these, 17 parlours have not opened.
A few years ago, a flesh trade racket was busted at a parlour at Mahatmanagar. A raid was also conducted in a bungalow along Sharanpur Road and four persons were arrested.
