Mumbai:
As the pro and anti-Dhoble parties continue to seek their own justice, another establishment in the city came under the police's axe last week.
Instead of the usual targets of nightclubs or restaurants, this time it was a spa whose owner was allegedly abused by the police, while her shop was vandalised in broad daylight.
In a complaint addressed to senior police officers, Deepika Sonawne, owner of S7 Spa in Barfiwala Lane in Andheri, was in her shop and was resting on June 29, when police came in and started tearing the premises apart on the suspicion that it was harbouring a prostitution racket.
Even as Deepika tried to convince them otherwise, the police began vandalising the shop. Police entered the shop from the back door, which was made of plywood.
According to allegations made by Deepika, the team of policemen abused her and broke the glass doors and vandalised the shop. However, when the police did not find anything, they took away about 200 shirts from an attached garment shop owned by the same owner.
Deepika told MiD DAY that if she was guilty, she should have been booked under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA). "If I am wrong, then I should be booked under PITA. I have been running my spa for the last 2 years, during which the police would sometimes come and take hafta from me," said Deepika.
According to the police, they received a tip-off that there was a prostitution racket going in that spa, due to which they conducted the search. They broke the glass doors as many people running prostitution rackets hide the girls behind it.
While the DN Nagar Senior Police Inspector Vijaykumar Bhoite has confirmed the raid, he denied vandalism on the part of the police. "We got a tip-off, and so we raided the spa, but when there was nothing, we came back and did not vandalise the shop," said Bhoite.
"We are investigating the issue, and if any such incident has happened, we will take action," Bhoite further added.