Mother-daughter duo held for running friendship club racket

Mumbai: Central Crime Branch sleuths raided a hotel on Old Airport Road on Saturday and busted a 'friendship club' racket being run by a 54-year-old woman and her daughter.

Apart from the racket, the mother-daughter duo was also running a discotheque and escort service and had employed around 30 girls to provide various services to clients.

During the raid, the sleuths arrested racket kingpin Vinitha, a resident of Geetanjali Nagar and her daughter Nirmala (24), along with four others.

The racket was being run with the utmost secrecy and the police team, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police SV Guled, following a tip off managed to make the bust with a well-planned raid.

The ACP sent an undercover cop along with a willing member to a private party organised by the accused at the hotel.

Once inside, the undercover duo kept in contact with the raiding team over their mobiles and the team conducted a successful bust.

No newcomer

Vinitha has been in the business for years and had hundreds of client-members from the city, who were being charged anything between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for services provided.

"As per the club activities, Vinitha used to run a discotheque and other immoral activities in various parts of the city and offered services to clients through membership," said SV Guled, ACP.

The duo operated the racket carefully and always maintained secrecy. The venues for the shady events were mostly unknown to the clients till the very last moment to evade detection by the police.

Invitations were issued only to long-time members and those who could be trusted, and they were picked up and dropped off to their doorstep by Vinitha's associates as a further precaution measure.

Using contacts built up along the way, the scam-kingpin would book party halls at select hotels and arrange food and beverage along with music bands for programmes, which usually happened over the weekend to attract a larger crowd.

All included

"Members were charged an entry fee of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000, which included free liquor and food. The girls would then entertain the guests and double up as escorts if the clients were willing to pay for the services," added Guled.

During the raid, the police seized Rs 26,500 along with mobile phones, liquor bottles and music equipment from the hall.

"The accused have been remanded to judicial custody, but the hotel owner and the manager, who allowed the illegal activities are absconding," Guled added.