Bhubaneswar: Acting on a tip-off, the quick-action-team of the Commissionerate Police and Capital Police held a combined raid on the
Ashok Nagar-based Rangila Bar and rescued five sex workers from there. Eight persons including the kingpin of the sex racket, four employees of the bar and two customers were also arrested.
The kingpin of the racket was Dilip Dash of Puri district, police said.
The sex workers hailed from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The rescued women were shifted to a short-stay home. The Capital Police registered a case.
Two of the arrested were customers Bhole Husen of Kolkata and Prasant Patnaik of Ganjam district. The others were bar manager Bibhuti Bhusan Chotaray, Amarjit Roul of Bhograi in Balasore district, bar waiter Barendra Kumar Ranjit, Sudhir Kumar Panda and a car driver Manoranjan Behera. For fear of arrest, the bar owner was absconding after the raid, police said.
Acting on complaints of illegal prostitution running inside the bar, the QAT team and the Capital police went in plainclothes and conducted the raid. The customers and the girls were caught in compromising positions. “The accused will be produced in court Friday. Later, they will be taken in remand for further investigation,” police said.