Fifteen persons, including a television serial actor, have been arrested and a minor has been detained from two parlour-cum-spas in the city for their alleged involvement in a sleaze racket.

Police said the addresses on Rashbehari Avenue and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road were operating as sleaze dens.

All those arrested have been booked under the Indian Penal Code section related to criminal conspiracy and various sections of the Immoral Trafficking Act.

The police said a joint team of the anti-rowdy squad of the detective department and the special task force of Calcutta police raided the two establishments on Saturday following a tip-off and rescued several women who were allegedly subjected to flesh trade.

“In one of the spas we found a television serial actor who had gone there as a client. He, too, has been arrested and booked under the same charges,” said an officer at Lalbazar.

Sources said 11 people were arrested from the spa on Rashbehari Avenue, including the owner, manager, an alleged middleman and seven customers.

Five persons were arrested from the spa on Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and one minor was detained.

Hundreds of parlours and spas have mushroomed across the city and many of them function as sleaze dens, the police said. “Many of these establishments run sex rackets in the guise of spa or parlour. The businesses had taken a hit because of the pandemic. But now we are getting information that these have started running again,” the officer said.

The women rescued from the two parlours have been sent to a government home.

According to official records, a large number of women who are trafficked and forced into prostitution are either misguided by their own family members with the intention to earn money for the family or cheated by men who pretend to be their friend.