Busting a prostitution racket ran by soliciting customers through an online portal, city anti-vice squad police have rescued four women from Delhi and Kolkata and arrested a 54-year old mastermind.
Acting on a tip-off, a special squad kept a watch and arrested Raveendran, a former call-taxi driver, for allegedly operating the prostitution racket, a police release said here today.
During his employment as a call-taxi driver two years ago, Raveendran used to take commercial sex workers arriving from North India by flight to various star hotels and bungalows and get commission from the online prostitution operators.
Lured by the big money in the trade, he bought his own car and had been running prostitution by engaging young women from other states through brokers, the release said.
Police rescued four women from Delhi and Kolkata and seized a luxury car and mobile phones.
Similarly, four women hailing from the city were rescued from a massage parlour in Velacherry which was using them for prostitution through web portals.
30-year-old proprietor of the parlour Sunil Thomas was arrested, police said.
