Hotel room in which student died was being used for immoral trafficking, police claims

OWNER AND MANAGER ARRESTED AND BOOKED UNDER ITPA

GANGTOK, 20 Mar: The police have arrested both, the owner and the manager of Hotel Bayul, and charged them with using the hotel for immoral trafficking. Political overtones cannot be avoided in the case and the arrest as the hotel owner, Pintso Chopel Lepcha, is Gangtok Zone-1 president of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and widely seen as a contender for the SKM ticket for the Gangtok seat.

The suicide of a teenager in one of the hotel rooms led the police to an enquiry which reportedly unearthed a sex racket being operated from one of the rooms allegedly by a woman from Bhutan. It was from the room allegedly being used by this woman that the dead body of the teenager was found hanging in the bathroom on 19 March.

Speaking to NOW! over the phone, DIG Range, Dr MS Tuli, confirmed that Mr. Lepcha has been arrested under Section 3 & 4 of the Immoral Trafficking [Prevention] Act of 1956 since the license for the hotel is issued in his name. The police is also investigating what an under aged group was doing in the rented hotel room.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lepcha, soon after he was arrested, got admitted at the STNM Hospital on health grounds. A group of SKM supporters arrived there and questioned the arrest alleging that the owner of Café Live n Loud was not arrested when one of its guests was murdered in a brawl outside the restaurant last year. The same question was raised regarding the brutal murder of a youth in a hotel in Namnang some months back which did not lead to the owners getting arrested.

That said, in the present case, it is not the death which has led to the arrest but charges booked under ITPA. To this, SKM supporters counter that there have been other incidents of police raids and bookings under ITPA but never have the police arrested owners of the hotels in question.

It is informed that a young couple had booked the hotel room in question on 12 March. Although the boy is from Sikkim, the hotel register records him as hailing from Siliguri.

Apart from the sections of ITPA, Mr. Lepcha has also been held liable under section 7 of the Sikkim Tenants and Domestic Professional Helps (Compulsory Verification) Act 2008. The couple who booked the room in question have been arrested and booked under section 4 of the ITP Act. The case has been handed over to the SDPO Gangtok, it is informed.