Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 2

Sex racket operators eying boys have become active in Shimla. Posters offering full-time and part-time “real adult jobs” have surfaced on public toilet walls in the capital.

A poster pasted on a public toilet wall at Victory Tunnel in the heart of the city reads, “Apne shaher mein kamaiyan Rs 50,000 se 60,000 per month, har umar ke ladke call karen abhi”. All they need is to call on the numbers displayed.

Interestingly, the calls are to be made only through WhatsApp so that the callers are not traced. The preliminary investigations by a Tribune team revealed that the numbers given in the posters are of the Northeast and the agents do not respond to the calls without verifying the number.

A large number of youths are indulging in drug abuse and the state capital being a key tourist destination, sex racket operators are eyeing youngsters for the flesh trade and the possibility of youths falling prey to such illegal activities cannot be ruled out as expensive drugs like ‘chitta’ have already made inroads in Himachal, says a retired police officer.

With tourism and allied sectors being the biggest money-spinner and employment generation sector for the hill state, its negative fallout has surfaced in the form of flesh trade and now lucrative jobs are being offered for gigolos, says local hotelier Sushant Nag who spotted the posters.

There are over 200 sites offering call girls and escort services for tourists and residents in the state and now a few websites are also offering gigolos work. These sites are operated through conduits from outside the state.

Shimla SP Omapati Jamwal said cases of the flesh trade racket had come to notice of the police. Raids were conducted to bust these rackets but the demand for gigolos was new to Himachal and no such case had been reported so far. The matter would be investigated and necessary action would be taken, he added.

Northeast connection