Prostitution ring busted, TV actress among three rescued

Mumbai: Three women including a small-time actress were rescued and two persons arrested for human trafficking, with police suspecting involvement of more women from the television industry in the racket. While Ashraf Khan (22) and Saira Shafi (21) were arrested yesterday from the suburban Goregaon, police are looking for the suspected kingpin, identified as Kabir, an official said today. Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths of Social Service Branch (SSB) of the crime branch sent one of their personnel as a decoy customer to the duo. Khan and Shafi were arrested after they accepted money from the decoy customer, police said. A small-time actress, working as an extra, was among those who were rescued, the police official said, adding it is suspected that more women associated with the TV industry are involved in the racket. The accused were booked under sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC and various provisions of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA). Their custody has been handed over to Dindoshi police, the official said.