Mumbai Woman Lured By Job Offer In Oman Sold To Sex Racket, 2 Accused Arrested: Police

After reaching Osman, the 43-year-old single mother she was sold to a sex racket. When she tried to escape, she was beaten up. She filed a police complaint after she managed to get back to India.

Mumbai Police arrested two individuals for allegedly luring a woman from Maharashtra's Thane district by offering a job in the Gulf kingdom of Oman and later handing her over to sex racket operators there. The 43-year-old single mother found an advertisement for the job on an online job portal following which she applied for the same.

According to news agency PTI, Kashimira police station senior inspector Sandeep Kadam said that she was contacted by the accused with several offers including the one for which she was sent to Oman last year in July. 

Senior inspector Kadam added, "Once she reached there, she was taken to a bungalow from the airport. She realised a sex racket was being operated there. When she tried to escape, she was beaten up. The two agents here who sent her to Oman started giving her evasive replies."

He further said, "The woman realised the two agents, who have an office in Navi Mumbai, had taken Rs 3 lakh from their Oman counterparts to send her. She was allowed to leave and come to India in August last year after she arranged Rs 1.65 lakh, which was given to agents there."

The victim filed a complaint based on which the two accused were recently arrested and further probe into this matter is underway.

In another similar case, Cyberabad Police in December last year said they busted a major sex racket with the arrest of 17 persons and rescued over 14,000 victims, including some from foreign countries. Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said the racket was being operated online from Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, news agency IANS reported.

The accused were procuring women from different places across India, posting ads on websites, contacting the customers through call centres and WhatsApp, facilitating the customers to reach the victims in different hotels and Oyo rooms, and collecting money for this organised prostitution racket.

A total of 14,190 victims were involved in prostitution. 50 per cent of the victims were from West Bengal, 20 per cent from Karnataka, and 15 per cent from Maharashtra. Three per cent victims were from countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Russia.