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Indian immigrant in NY accused of turning house into brothel

Arthur J Pais in New York

Bhupendra Shah describes himself as yet another immigrant who was trying to make a decent living by dividing his two-story house in New York into tiny apartments for subletting.

Not so, says District Attorney Richard Brown. According to Brown, 55-year-old Shah not only illegally converted a three-family house into 10 dwelling units, he allowed most of them to operate as a brothel. Worse still, he forced his teenage daughter to live where the prostitution was going on, Brown alleged, quoting police reports that led to Shah's arrest last week. The daughter wanted to move out of the house and live with some relatives, sources said but Shah would not relent.

If found guilty, Shah could be sentenced to two years in prison -- and possibly be deported to India

Shah lived in a busy part of Queens district in New York, home for thousands of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. Scores of brothels have been raided in Queens in recent weeks. But the business at the brothels in Shah's house continued, Brown said, because no prostitute from that house had been arrested, till the beginning of June.

Then the police set up sting operations, which revealed that prostitutes from Colombia and Mexico ran a steady business in Shah's house. The "madam" of the prostitution has been arrested. If found guilty, she faces up to five years in prison, and is also liable to be deported to her native country.

Shah has been charged with "reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a minor" (his daughter).

Following constant police raids in Manhattan, the most prominent of New York's five districts, legions of prostitutes have moved to other districts, particularly to the heavily populated Queens. Neighbours in areas teeming with prostitutes have held led petition drives to the mayor's office, demanding the effective ending of prostitution

According to the police, Shah had divided the house into three tiny apartments, six single occupancy rooms and an apartment where his estranged wife resided with his stepson and teenage daughter.

Shah has been released without bail.

Brown said the existence of a brothel in the house caused disruption in social conditions. There were two elementary schools within a few blocks from the house, he said.

New York has been carrying out an effective programme for the last six months to move out legitimate sex shops from residential areas and schools, and has forced them to relocate to industrial parts of the city, where they are not easily accessible by metro or city buses. Prostitution is illegal in New York as is the case with most of America.

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