Patna: Police raided a hotel near Gandhi Maidan in Patna late Thursday night after receiving a tip-off about an alleged flesh trade racket operating from the premises. Ten women and one man were detained from a room while the hotel operator fled.Police said those inside the room were consuming liquor and partying when the raid was conducted. They tried to escape on seeing the police but were caught. Liquor and other objectionable material were seized during the operation.The investigation revealed that women were allegedly called to the hotel on demand. Photographs were sent to prospective clients through WhatsApp before deals were finalised.Gandhi Maidan SHO Akhilesh Mishra said, “Police were receiving secret inputs for a long time about suspicious activities and flesh trade being run in a hotel in the posh area. Following this, a special team was formed under City SP (West) Sanket Kumar. The team raided the hotel late at night.”The hotel was operating from the second floor of a commercial complex on Exhibition Road near Gandhi Maidan. All those detained were brought to Gandhi Maidan police station for questioning. Police are investigating how long the alleged racket had been operating and whether others were involved.“The detained man was identified as Ashok Kumar Yadav, a resident of Jehanabad. He works at the hotel. During questioning, it was revealed that girls stayed permanently at this hotel. Customers visited the hotel on call. This business was running in the hotel for the past one year,” the SHO said.He added that the women were from Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal.
