Revelations by two women arrested in connection with lawyer Sangeeta Sinha’s (45) murder shifted the spotlight of sex trade from beauty parlours to apartments in upscale localities.

According to their statements to police, the two women claimed that the lawyer used to run a flesh trade from her apartment in Budh Marg area.

Sinha’s decomposed body was found at Vaibhav Apartments on June 20. Around June-end, the police picked up the two women for questioning and later arrested them on suspicion. They were produced before the chief judicial magistrate on Monday. The duo are in judicial custody.

In their statement, the women claimed that Sangeeta ran flesh trade at her flat on the third floor of the apartment and the duo worked for the lawyer. The women added that Sangeeta used to call them for service and paid them Rs 300 to Rs 400 per service.

Their statement hinted at pimps and prostitutes shifting base to apartments after the police came down heavily on beauty parlours.

“Earlier, fewer number of flesh-trade cases were reported from apartments. Now, many cases have come to the fore from apartments. On July 6, two women and four men involved in flesh trade were arrested from Rajvanshi Nagar area under Shastri Nagar police station. The six people were arrested from a government flat in the same area where the business was thriving for long,” a police officer said.

He added: “On July 14, 2011, the police raided an apartment at Shastri Nagar and nabbed seven people, including women involved in flesh trade.”

In 2010, the police started a full-fledged campaign against flesh trade. “Many parlours in the Mauryalok Complex and the Kulharia Complex were raided and many were arrested. The parlours had secret rooms, where people indulged in immoral activities. The business plummeted because of police patrolling. Now, those involved in flesh trade have shifted base to the apartments a haven,” the officer said.

He added: “In parlours, the presence of girls round-the-clock made the job of the police simpler. Now, the strategy has changed as the women don’t live in the apartments and the co-ordinator calls them only when their service is needed.”

Besides giving lead to the police about the shift in the base of flesh trade in the city, the two women in their statements stated that Sangeeta had once claimed that a lawyer might kill her because of differences in opinion over some issue. Sources said the lawyer Sangeeta had mentioned to the two women could be one of the two prime suspects.

The police are yet to hunt down the two prime suspects — a lawyer and a man who used to frequent Sangeeta’s house.

The cops are yet to ascertain whether Sangeeta was killed or she had committed suicide. The police are pining their hope on the forensic science laboratory report, which is yet to come.