Just as some call it the ‘crime city,’ there is another label that Pune is beginning to be known by — ‘sin city’. With its large floating population of students and youngsters, who form the bulk of staff in call centres, BPOs and other backroom operation hubs, a high profile sex trade business (under the euphemism “escort services”) is booming in the city.

And it is not difficult to find — one merely needs to click “sex service in Pune” on internet search engines and all sorts of links, complete with cell phone numbers of several such service providers pop up. Some escort services also advertise through newspaper classifieds. The demand is not just for females but for male “escorts” as well.

Police sources say that safe lodging facilities and a good climate in the hinterlands has made Pune a prime spot for such activity. Even the youth from rich families in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and other upcoming cities flock to Pune to avail of these services.

Adding another dimension to the racket is the sudden proliferation of girls from Uzbekistan in Pune. According to intelligence agencies, given that Pune is home to a number of defence establishments, there is a danger of espionage rackets building around these girls and posing a security threat to the nation.

Police Inspector Rajendra Bhamre of Pune police’s Social Security Cell said that escorts service providers are aware of the huge population of youngsters in the city, who are staying away from their families for jobs or education and are willing to pay high sums for pleasure. “The police can certainly crack down on these websites. But there are limitations because foreign countries host these website,” he pointed out.

Last November, the Pune police arrested three female models and their agents on charges of promoting the prostitution business through an Internet website called chamadi.com. But the accused were soon released on bail and the website is now back in business — offering escort services in Pune at even higher costs.

When they were contacted by posing as a customer, a woman who runs the website said, “We would provide attractive college girls for two hours. Charges vary between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000. Customers should first book a hotel and then inform us. The money should be paid in cash at the hotel.”

Explaining why sex rackets were being run so openly, a senior police officer said that the girls and agents who are arrested for promoting prostitution through websites easily get bail in court. “Sex between consenting adults is not an offence. The modus operandi of escort services is fashioned in such a manner that the arrangement between the customers and escort girl looks like that between two consenting adults. Thus, it becomes difficult to book the suspects under sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA), which is non-bailable,” he pointed out.

Pune Police Cyber Committee Chief Coordinator Sudam Choure said that a major joint awareness campaign by social activists and the police is needed to control such escort services. The Pune police have also received complaints from some men, who were lured through newspaper advertisements like “make female friends” published in the classified sections.

In March 2008, the Bund Garden police arrested two men in Mumbai for cheating a Major from the Armed Force Medical College, who had solicited a “good looking female friend” after reading an advertisement carried in a city newspaper in November 2007.