The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged sexual exploitation of a minor at a spa in Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, has arrested a woman agent from Bengaluru, widening a case that has raised questions about trafficking networks and oversight of commercial spas. Police identified the arrested woman as Vani and said she allegedly supplied girls and women to spas in multiple cities.
Vani is the seventh person arrested in the case, according to the police. She will be brought to Thiruvananthapuram as the investigation continues. Investigators said a relative of the minor from Andhra Pradesh had allegedly sold her to Vani, who then moved her between different spas.
The police said Vani also operated spas in Bengaluru. Her arrest indicates that investigators are examining links across states rather than treating the alleged abuse as an isolated incident at one establishment. The case began after the minor’s maternal aunt, who had raised her, filed a missing-person complaint on September 21.
After the girl was traced, she told investigators during counselling that she had been brought to a spa in the Kovalam area in late June or early July. She allegedly stayed there for about two months before being moved to another spa, where police said she spent around four days. Based on the investigation, police arrested the owners of both spas.
The minor also told investigators that she had worked at a spa in Guduvanchery near Chennai, where she allegedly faced similar abuse. Police said a zero FIR was registered over that allegation and forwarded to the concerned police station in Chennai for further investigation.
The investigation has also brought public officials under scrutiny. The girl’s maternal aunt and her husband went missing after the allegations emerged, and police traced them to Palasamudram in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Sathya Sai district. The SIT later arrested Thiruvananthapuram Corporation junior health inspector Anuroop, who allegedly had financial transactions with people running the spa.
On Wednesday, the SIT arrested Maya, a temporary health inspector with Nagaroor grama panchayat, after investigators found that money from the spa had allegedly been transferred to her bank accounts, officials said. The arrests have placed the role of local inspection and licensing systems in focus, although the police investigation is still underway and the allegations have not been adjudicated by a court.
The case involves establishments operating across Kovalam, Bengaluru and the area near Chennai, making coordination between state police forces and local civic authorities a central part of the investigation. The SIT’s next steps include bringing Vani to Thiruvananthapuram and examining the alleged financial and operational links among the arrested individuals and the spas.
