Kottayam: Flesh trade has not flagged despite the ongoing COVID-19 curbs that have resulted in the closure of several shops and businesses.
Investigators probing the attack on a house at Kodimatha, which left two men injured, suspected the flesh trade angle in the preliminary stage itself.
Two persons, including a woman, were arrested in connection with the incident. The attack was the fallout of a feud between two gangs involved in sex trade.
Police were now searching for the kingpin of one of the rackets and the 10-member criminal gang which carried out the attack.
Identifying the arrested duo as Ajman of Ponkunnam and Sulekha alias Shruti of Mallappally, police said a turf war between two sex rackets based in Kodimatha and Anathanam, on the outskirts of Kottayam town, had led to the incident.
The attack was carried out by a Thiruvananthapuram-based gang, hired by Manas Mathew, the leader of the Anathanam gang, police said. Two men, San Joseph and Amir Khan, were hacked by the gang that had barged into their rented accommodation around 9pm on Tuesday.
Ajman and Shruti, who escaped unhurt, parted ways and went to Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam. The duo was arrested when they arrived at the house on Thursday, police said.
The split
Deputy Superintendent of Police M Anil Kumar said Joseph of Ettumanoor and Mathew of Ponkunnam had jointly operated a sex racket near the Medical College before the pandemic struck. They shut operations after local residents objected to their activity.
Meanwhile, the partners parted ways and Mathew opened a new centre at Anathanam, while Joseph started one at Kodimatha. After Joseph canvassed Mathew’s clients, the women working under him, too, shifted allegiance to the Kodimatha gang.
Meanwhile, when Mathew’s wife, employed in a Gulf country, returned home, the Kodimatha gang handed over a few sleaze videos to her, which affected the former’s family life. Joseph, Khan and Shruti had then gone to Mathew’s residence, where a fight ensued.
Retaliatory attack
Enraged by the loss of business and the family issues the Kodimatha gang had created, Mathew engaged the gang to exact revenge. The gang which arrived in Kottayam around noon on Tuesday, stayed at a homestay, before hiring two cars from Ettumanoor to carry out the operation in which Joseph and Khan were hacked.
A police team that visited the scene soon after the incident understood that the attack was the fallout of a feud between two gangs involved in sex trade. They also noted that the attackers had spared the women present in the house.
Police soon learnt that the women had earlier been the employees of the rival gang. Investigators got information about the gang from the phone details and CCTV cameras installed in the neighborhood. Police said the injured Joseph and Khan did not cooperate with the probe.
Trade goes online
As the pandemic-induced lockdown forced several business go online, sex rackets, too, took the same route to deliver their services. Joseph and Mathew marketed their businesses over social media, posting nude pictures and videos online with availability, time and rate, which ranged from Rs 2,000 to 10,000. The average charge was Rs 5,000.
Most women were from Palakkad and Thrissur. The sleaze videos were mostly of the women with the proprietors. Once a prospective client evinced interest, a vehicle would be sent to them based on their location shared on social media.
The gang provided food to its clientele at the centre since restaurants were closed during the lockdown. Police have seized the sleaze photographs and videos. While Anathanam gang has been booked for the attack, Kodimatha gang was charged for indulging in sex trade.