A 41-year-old Tamil television actress was arrested by the police on Saturday for allegedly running a prostitution racket in a resort in Panaiyur on the outskirts of Chennai, officials said on Monday.
Sangeetha Balan and her partner Sathish, who was also arrested, were produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court at Egmore. The court sent them to jail for 15 days.
Inspector Mahalakshmi of the police department’s anti-vice squad wing said they received an information about a prostitution ring being run by Balan.
“While we raided a private resort at Panaiyur on the East Coast Road following an information from a private source, we found four young girls involved in prostitution,” Mahalakshmi said while speaking to the Hindustan Times.
“During the course of the inquiry, the girls revealed that Sangeetha Balan was the mastermind behind this sex racket and lured them as sex workers,” she added.
The inspector said Balan’s partner promised the girls a big sum of money and a chance to feature in lead roles in the movie and television shows.
“The retrieved girls are the junior artists in serials and cinema… One is from outside the state” she added.
They have been sent to a rehabilitation centre in Mylapore.
Chennai-based Balan has been acting since 1996 when she made her acting debut in Karuppu Roja. A well-known face in the Tamil television industry, she has appeared in popular shows like Vaani Rani, Chellamay Aval, Sabitha alias Sababathi and Valli.
Police sources added that Balan turned to the flesh trade in the last couple of years.
The squad has directed the resort owners in Panaiyur to enquire people before giving out rooms to them and inform the department if they found anything wrong.
(Source:Hindustan Times)
Prasanta Patnaik