'Kiss of Love' organiser arrested for running online sex racket

Cabinet raises financial assistance for displaced people

Trivandrum: Noted anti-moral policing activist and organiser of the controversial 'Kiss of Love' campaign Rahul Pashupalan and his wife Reshmi Ramachandran were arrested on Wednesday by the Kerala police on the suspicion of running an online sex racket.
The Crime Branch police took them into custody in state-wide raids under an undercover operation code-named 'Operation Big Daddy'. Six others, including a minor girl, were also detained along with them, said police. The arrested also included a notorious gang leader identified as Kasargod Akbar. Police said that he had acted as a middleman between the racket and the clients.
Police said that three others, including a man and two women, escaped in a car during the raids. It is said that the gang also injured some policemen when they arrested Reshmi, is a model at Playboy Miss Social. Rahul and Reshmi were arrested from a hotel near the Nedumbaserry airport in Cochin.
Deputy Inspector General of Police S Sreejith, who led the operation with the help of the state cyber police, is questioning the arrested. A television channel reported that Reshmi had admitted to the police that she had played a leading role in the racket.
The police had launched the operation in October following a complaint received by the cyber cell regarding a Facebook page 'Kochu Sundarikal (Beautiful Girls) that carried pictures of school girls. The police followed up on the complaint and tapped into the online sex network by posing as clients.
Reports said that the sleuths received photographs of "escorts" as encrypted messages (mostly WhatsApp) on their mobile phones. Police have so far arrested more than 100 people under the operation in cities like Trivandrum and Cochin. The women detained under the operation were treated as victims of human trafficking, counselled and reunited with their families.
The arrest of Rahul has caused a ripple in the social media. Rahul and his wife had shot to fame in November last when they spearheaded the 'Kiss of Love' campaign against the rising moral policing incidents in the state.
They were prompted by the attack on an eatery at Calicut by the youth activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party on October 23 alleging immoral activities there. The campaign soon spread to many cities and towns in not only Kerala but also in other states.
The campaign drove hundreds to the streets for and against such freedoms commonly taken for granted in developed democracies. The protest also saw vehement opposition from political groups like Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, SDPI, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Sena.
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