Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: In a major breakthrough, the Crime Branch has arrested three persons for allegedly creating, operating and managing escort websites involved in publishing sexually explicit and objectionable content, while running a country-wide prostitution network.
The arrests follow sustained surveillance by the Crime Branch and the Social Media Monitoring Cell on multiple escort websites. On March 9, an FIR (No. 21/2026) was registered under Section 67 of the IT Act and Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act against 22 such websites, all of which have since been blocked.
During the technical investigation, the police identified one of the key accused as V. Narayanrao (40), a native of Shivamogga, Karnataka, who was allegedly operating the websites along with accomplices. Multiple teams were formed and deployed across Goa, leading to a successful raid at a location in Nerul, Bardez.
The Crime Branch arrested three accused: V. Narayanrao (40), Shahbaz Khan (33) from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, and Manjunath Shahshetty (36) from Basavakalyan, Bidar, Karnataka.
During the raid, police recovered a mobile phone linked to the escort website “secretnightss.com” from the possession of the accused. Further searches led to the seizure of one laptop and four mobile phones containing incriminating material.
Investigation into bank transactions revealed that the accused received money from victim women through Google Pay and UPI transfers, indicating they were living off the earnings of prostitution. Subsequently, Section 4 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was added to the case.
All three accused were arrested in the early hours of March 14, 2026, and remanded to three days of police custody.
Preliminary analysis of seized devices during custodial interrogation suggests that Narayanrao is the mastermind behind a larger prostitution racket operating in several cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur and Delhi.
The Crime Branch is currently analysing financial transactions and working to identify victims who transferred money to the accused. A bank account of the main accused containing Rs 2.34 lakh has been frozen as part of the probe.
The operation was carried out under the supervision of Jivba Dalvi, Superintendent of Police (in-charge DySP Crime), with the team led by PI Manguesh Valvaikar, PI Vikas Deykar and PSI Amin Naik, along with other personnel, under the overall supervision of SP Crime Rahul Gupta, IPS.
