KOLKATA: While the Kolkata police is still probing the Haridevpur pub shootout , a South 24 Pargana police probe has revealed chilling details of how a few criminals from Kolkata's added areas and the two Parganas are playing a constant role in pushing women from outside Bengal in to bar dancing and eventually in to organized sex rackets .

The probe has found that there are at least three major resort cum bars where bar dancing is controlled by the promoting syndicates in the Haridevpur-Thakurpukur belt. The bar dancers are procured through a couple with network in Bangladesh and three districts of Bengal and they are forced to perform at two bars off Thakurpukur (Bakrahat Road) and one at Joka right next to the IIMC. While one of them, located off the Diamond Harbour Road, also doubles up as a resort, the other two – located on the Bakrahat Road – gained customers only after they introduced "item numbers."

The police said that the nexus has been in operation in the past one year. Just like in Haridevpur, the land was handed over to promoters at cheaper rates. When the bar finally was set up, these syndicate sharks demanded their share of pie. This included a cut money from clients who were allowed "close" moments with some of these bar girls. The bar girls themselves do not complain as they too are allowed a miniscule share of the profit. "Initially, there is physical intimacy but a few then take a plunge even in the sex trade," said an investigator.

Take the example of a woman who was "trafficked" from Jessore. "When we counselled her, she said she had gained experience from a bar near south Bishnupur. "The girl claimed he had come with a pimp knowing he had ruined the lives of two others as there was nothing to eat there. She said that the men can't earn a living, so they send them across the border. She said the pimps push them in to the all the glamour hoping they would not return back," said a Bidhannagar commissionarate officer.

"We have found that the 10-odd pubs operating in central and added areas that are routinely flouting all excise norms. Though the closing time of these pubs is at midnight, they have moved applications to the excise department and increased their timings by about an hour. But even then, they are flouting even the extended time as we saw in our raid last night," said a top divisional officer.

The cops are now writing to the excise department pleading with it not to extend timings. "We have told them how two raids earlier by the detective department and the local police had led to us finding such rampant flouting. We are hoping that we can discipline these pubs. If required, we might consult lawyers to ascertain if stricter charges can be slapped against them," said a top officer at Lalbazar.