Mobile brothel operator openly ran dance bar, served liquor

RAJKOT: As if running a brothel on wheels was not enough audacity, the operator, son of a retired policeman, brazenly ran dance bar in his house in Jamnagar.

Last week, the police had arrested Ashok Jhala, who had retrofitted two mini-buses with mattresses, pillows and air-conditioners, to run flesh trade. Investigation has now revealed that Jhala had converted his entire home into a full-blown illegal dance bar, complete with liquor, bar girls, and blaring music. The brothel-on-wheels was parked right outside for the ‘afterparty.'

Jhala not just made a mockery of law enforcement agencies, but also state-run power distributor Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (PGVCL). Police found that he was stealing electricity through an illegal connection to run the setup.

Last week, acting on specific intelligence about flesh trade in stationary mini-buses, police had conducted a raid near Jhala's residence in Ranjitnaar area. The windows were covered with curtains to provide privacy.

During search of the house, police found the contact details of 25 women from Mumbai, Delhi and other places. Police recovered 107 GB of data containing 600-700 explicit photographs of women.

The investigators also found recorded conversations between the accused and various parties. The conversations, police said, touched upon the issue of security arrangements. During the raid, police identified 25 regular clients and 13 individuals present at the place.

DySP (Jamnagar) Jayvirsinh Jhala said: "When we searched his house, we found various kinds of lighting and air conditioning. His neighbours told us that he was running a dance bar where he provided liquor to people. We believe that he might be running this kind of activity to facilitate his customers."

Investigating officer RD Gohil said, "We learnt that the accused was running a dance bar inside his house and for that a special facility was created in a big hall of the house. Around 25 to 30 colourful lights were installed in the hall, there was a sound system, and several ACs were also installed. There were couches in the rooms for seating. We also found a few microwave ovens which we suspect were used to prepare food for the customers. We also learnt that he was arranging liquor for the customers."

"We found that in order to run these activities, he used an illegal electricity connection. We informed the PGVCL about this and the electricity connection was disconnected,'' the DySP added.