The Delhi police on Tuesday night arrested a former Miss Bangalore on charges of prostitution and claimed to have unearthed a flesh-trade racket involving high-profile people.
The Crime Branch nabbed 21-year old Ritu (not her real name), from a five-star hotel in the south Delhi area, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways) Dependra Pathak said on Wednesday.
He said the girl, who aspired to act in films and television serials, was allegedly engaged in 'networking of clientele' over the phone in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Ritu was voted Miss Bangalore in 1999 and currently worked as a model.
Pathak said on being interrogated, Ritu said one Lata from Bangalore had sent her along with another girl for prostitution.
"She disclosed her family is running through financial crisis and could not meet her high status expenditures, forcing her to engage in flesh trade," the DCP said.
Ritu also claimed she had come to Delhi for shooting her portfolio for movie and serial producers, Pathak said.
The police set a trap for Ritu using a decoy, who traced her mobile phone number and struck a deal for Rs 15,000.
When the decoy reached the lobby of the hotel, he paid Rs 2,000 in advance in presence of a shadow witness and as she led him to the room booked by her, she was arrested, he said.
A probe is being conducted to locate the contacts of Lata in Delhi.