Police have rescued a 35-year-old TV actor after busting an alleged human trafficking and prostitution racket that forced women from the entertainment industry into the flesh trade in Maharashtra’s Thane district, officials said on Sunday.
A woman has been arrested in this connection, while a search is underway for her male associate, they said.
Acting on a tip-off received from an NGO, the police sent a decoy customer to a hotel on Mira-Bhayander Road on October 8. They later conducted a raid there and caught a woman, identified as Tabassum alias Sonia Umar Qureshi (39), accepting money for allegedly forcing women into prostitution, a police release said.
An actor working in Hindi serials and web series was rescued and placed under protective custody at the Rescue Foundation in Mumbai, the police said without giving more details.
According to the police, Qureshi and a man allegedly forced women from the entertainment industry, specifically working in TV serials, web series and photo shoots, into prostitution.
Qureshi, hailing from Surguja district in Chhattisgarh and currently residing at Jogeshwari in Mumbai, was arrested and booked under Section 143 (human trafficking) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the release said.
Search was underway for her male associate, it added.