Thane, Aug 14 A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted three persons accused of running a prostitution racket in Mira Road, citing investigative lapses, lack of independent witnesses, and failure to examine the victim in court.
Additional sessions judge S S Renge acquitted Tejal Harshad Mehta (40), Sunita Raju Singh (55), and Narendra Omprakash Dhangar (50), who were booked under section 370 (human trafficking) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
A copy of the order passed on August 11 was made available on Thursday.
According to the prosecution, the police raided a building in Mira Road on December 30, 2020, following a tip-off by sending a dummy customer. They arrested the alleged accused, rescued a woman, and seized cash and mobile phones.
The court noted glaring inconsistencies about the raid, stating, "The prosecution witnesses have not consistently deposed regarding the pre-arranged signal."
It further pointed out that the conversation between the dummy customer and the accused was not witnessed by the prosecution witness, and even the panchanamas do not record the alleged conversation or negotiations.
"The prosecution case suffers from a complete lack of independent corroboration... no watchman, neighbour, office-bearer of the housing society or independent resident has been examined. No CCTV footage has been collected," it said.
Crucially, the rescued woman was never produced to testify, it stated while acquitting the accused.
