NEW DELHI: The F1 circus has moved on leaving behind tourists, some of them of the unwelcome kind. Delhi Police sources say a number of foreign prostitutes used the recent F1 race as a pretext to get tourist visas and are now plying their trade in the city. Among them are some who were caught earlier for prostitution and evicted from the country.
The crime branch is learnt to have sent a list of all such women to the Delhi home department, the Union ministry of home affairs and the foreigner regional registration offices (FRRO), requesting that visas not be issued to them in future. Last year, the crime branch had busted four sex rackets around the F1 season. At least two gangs involved foreign nationals.
"We have found that the same girls are returning to the city to earn money. We want to ensure that, once sent out of India, they are not allowed in again without a background check,'' said a senior officer who is monitoring these cases.
However, foreign policy experts say this decision will lead to an unnecessary row of the kind witnessed some time ago when women in the CIS countries protested against being generally labelled prostitutes and denied visa by Indian authorities. "The Indian authorities should deal with the issue case by case,'' said an expert from JNU.
This time, the Special Investigation Team of crime branch has reportedly busted a gang of CIS nationals who earned more than Rs 5 lakh a month by joining sex rackets with bases in south Delhi, Goa and Mumbai. Six women aged 23-28 were caught but investigators believe other women from the group are still active in Delhi.
The pimp for the group reportedly married an Indian to remain in India and has spent three years in the city. "The accused paid a rent of Rs 50,000 in GK-II, and Rs 30,000 each in Arjun Nagar and Safdarjung Enclave. The main accused has proper records with entries from 2009. We now have all the details about the movement of these call girls and how much they charge. They earn Rs 4-5 lakh a month,'' said a source.
Sources said the group has learnt to evade police by soliciting directly through social networking sites and phones. They also don't involve Indian pimps or prostitutes to avoid sharing their profits. One of the accused, an Uzbek ballet dancer, allegedly charged more than Rs 50,000 a night after moving to the city from Dubai for better earnings.