Howrah police on Wednesday said they have arrested 33-year-old Arian Khan and his mother Shweta, who allegedly kept a young woman in captivity and tortured her after she refused to act in pornographic videos. Police said they have also detained a minor girl.
Shweta Khan alias Phultusi, the prime accused, was arrested from a hideout in Alipore in Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Arian was arrested from a house in the Golf Green area of Tollygunge. On Tuesday, police detained a minor girl from the house of Khan’s acquaintance in Bonhooghly.
“All three persons named in the FIR have been arrested. While the minor was produced before a juvenile board, Arian has been sent to 9 days in police custody. Shweta Khan will be produced in the court tomorrow (Thursday),” Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathy said.
Police are now planning to question the mother-son duo face-to-face.
The matter came to light last Friday when the 22-year-old woman from Sodepur managed to escape from an apartment in Domjur, where she was allegedly kept in confinement. After she reached home, her family filed a complaint with the police. According to her family, Arian Khan, a resident of Howrah district, allegedly offered the woman a job in event management and promised money. The woman, who also used to work with an event management company, reportedly believed him and moved to Howrah, where she was allegedly kept in captivity at his Domjur apartment for five months. According to the woman’s family members, she was forced to work in a bar, and after she refused to make pornographic videos, she was allegedly assaulted.
She is currently admitted to a hospital, and her condition is said to be critical with multiple injuries.
Sources in the police said that Shweta Khan had floated a “production house” — Isara Entertainment — with her son Arian. “The accused are influential in the area, with neighbours alleging that they also forced women into prostitution,” a police officer said. The arrests came a day after the victim’s mother sent a letter to the chief minister requesting immediate action against the accused.
The mother and the son have been booked under various charges, including sections of attempt to murder and outraging the modesty of a woman, alongside wrongful confinement and others.
Expressing happiness over Khan’s arrest, the woman’s mother said: “I am happy with the arrest, but I want the police to find his mother too.”
Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought a report from Director General of Police (West Bengal) Rajeev Kumar. “(A) woman from North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, was brutally tortured and held captive for six months for refusing to shoot pornography and work as a bar dancer. As reported, she was beaten with iron rods, starved, and sustained severe injuries, including broken hands, feet, and teeth. The Commission strongly condemns this barbaric act,” the NCW said.