Guruvayur: The Guruvayur Temple Police have arrested three members of a sex racket that operated across the state. The arrested include 24-year-old Ajay Vinod of Ambadi Veettil, Nenmini, near Guruvayur, believed to be the kingpin and administrator of the WhatsApp groups used by the racket. The other two are 24-year-old M J Shojin of Panangad Marottickal near S N Puram, Kodungallur, and 41-year-old Ranjith of Ayanikkad in Peringode, Palakkad, who runs a lodge near the western entrance of the Guruvayur Temple. Both allegedly worked as agents for the racket.

Police are also searching for a woman who served as a co-admin of the WhatsApp groups. According to investigators, Ajay Vinod and the woman jointly managed four WhatsApp and broadcast groups for the operation, which relied on a network of contacts across the state.

Agents were stationed in multiple locations. When customers shared their location, the group would send images of women available nearby. The racket is suspected to have been active for nearly a year, and only trusted persons were added to its WhatsApp groups, police said.

Police have examined the mobile phone seized from Ajay Vinod and recovered details of group members as well as financial transactions made through Google Pay and other digital payment platforms.

The racket had been under surveillance for the past month. The arrests were made by a team constituted by City Police Commissioner Nakul Deshmukh. The operation was led by Assistant Police Commissioner C Premanandakrishnan and Temple Station Inspector G Ajaykumar.