At a time when senior police officials prefer working in their comfort zones laced with air-conditioners and other facilities at their beck and call, a female senior IPS officer went undercover to lay bare a sex racket brazenly running at a pub in Telangana’s capital Hyderabad. She resorted to a step no one saw coming; a covert operation which exposed alleged immoral activities and multiple regulatory violations, culminating in the detention of nine staff members.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Hyderabad’s Kukatpally area, Riti Raj, a 2018-batch Telangana cadre IPS officer, spearheaded the operation in the early hours of Sunday.

This pub fell under scanner

DCP Raj’s raid targeted the Kings and Queens Pub, widely known across the city as Club Masti, after inputs were provided to police suggesting illicit activities inside the establishment. As per sources, DCP Raj wanted to verify the inputs before authorising and leading the enforcement action, as part of which she went undercover and visited the pub, only to learn that the allegations were true.

She then headed a raid, which unearthed numerous illicit activities, particularly the facilitation of solicitation and prostitution within the premises. The investigating police personnel claimed women were allegedly being used to draw male customers and encourage excessive spending, resulting in inflated bills and wrongful financial gain for the establishment.

Other regulatory violations come to light

Apart from the aforementioned immoral activities, police said the pub was found to be breaching several regulatory requirements, such as placing safeguards to prevent minors from entering there. Moreover, it was also operating beyond the permitted hours and was serving food and alcohol in contravention of applicable regulations.

Additionally, the cops learnt the pub was also functioning without a valid police No Objection Certificate (NOC), which is mandatory for such establishments. According to police, they suspect that the management was not only facilitating immoral activities but may also have been procuring women for customers, a charge which is under probe now.

Nine staff members detained

During the operation, the police laid hands on nine staff members, including four women and five men. All of them were taken to the KPHB Police Station for interrogation and further legal proceedings.

Officials in the know of the development said the pub had earlier been booked in multiple criminal cases last year. Despite earlier enforcement action, authorities alleged that violations continued to unfold. A fresh case has now been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act. The police said further probe into the case is underway.

DCP Riti Raj’s background

DCP Riti Raj is an alumnus of Delhi Public School, Patna, and has graduated from the National Law University, Delhi. She later qualified the Civil Services Examination and joined the Indian Police Services (IPS) in 2018.

Over the years, she has lent contribution in several important assignments, such as cyber crimes and the Madhapur Zone of Cyberabad Police.

She is currently the DCP of Kukatpally area, and is also heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe a case involving Bandi Bhageerath Sai, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar.