Delilah D’ Souza

Daijiworld Media Network- Mumbai

Mumbai, May 21: Mumbai Police have busted an online sex racket operating in the Andheri area, resulting in the arrest of a 28-year-old man and the rescue of a 30-year-old woman allegedly forced into prostitution. The accused, identified as Sarfaraz alias Mohammad Gulab Phoolbabu Sheikh, is a resident of Versova in Andheri.

According to police, Sarfaraz used mobile phones and messaging apps like WhatsApp to run the illegal operation, offering women to clients in hotels and lodges across Mumbai. Acting on a tip-off, police set up a decoy operation in which Sarfaraz sent photos of women via WhatsApp and finalised the deal over a phone call.

He was asked to bring a woman to a hotel on Veera Desai Road, where police, already stationed nearby, detained him during the transaction. During initial questioning, the rescued woman confirmed she had been brought for prostitution. She was taken for a medical check-up and later shifted to a private rescue and rehabilitation centre in Kandivali.

Sarfaraz has been booked under Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act. Police are investigating the extent of the racket and are likely to make more arrests based on further interrogation of the accused.