Bhubaneswar: That a well-knitted ‘gigolo’ racket is thriving in the capital city came to fore after a reputed hotel recently lodged a complaint at Badagada police station in Bhubaneswar.
Male prostitutes, often called gigolos, are paid for being escorts or lovers to women. Several gigolo rackets continue to flourish in the capital city. Masterminds of these rackets manage everything online. They often get their advertisements published online informing that such acts are being carried out safely in star hotels in Bhubaneswar.
While some youths in the hope of making a killing take the bait, there are some women who also fall prey to them after visiting their sites and booking gigolos.
According to a source, a room in a hotel is booked and then the racket operators text the gigolos informing about the name of the hotel booked, the room number, name of the client and the scheduled time. After getting the messages, gigolos visit the hotels.
The operators behind the rackets collect a heavy buck from such women promising them all facilities at the hotels.
There are cases when women are being given the names of some hotels that have actually not been booked at all. In such cases, these victimised women do not go for lodging a report against them, fearing shame.
A case of fraud involving gigolos came to fore recently after a report was lodged at Badagada police station.
According to the report, a gigolo had visited a hotel located near Kalpana Square in Bhubaneswar September 22. After reaching the hotel, the man asked the receptionist that a woman has booked him. He even informed the receptionist that a man named Deepak has booked the room.
The receptionist informed the gigolo that neither any room was booked in their hotel nor their hotel was running any such racket.
Following the incident, the hotel authorities searched the internet and came to know that their hotel’s name has been used in a website pertaining to male sex trade. Subsequently, they lodged an FIR at Badagada police station.
Registering a case (Case NO-266/20), the police have launched an investigation. When contacted, Badagada IIC Biswaranjan Nayak said they have come to know about the racket only after a gigolo visited the hotel. On the basis of the allegation, we have launched a probe and a hunt is on to nab the mastermind.
PNN