Shimla, Nov. 15: Miss Manali, Miss Kullu, Miss Mandi, Miss Shimla?

No, they are not beauty queens from Himachal. They are names of pornographic CDs being sold in the mountain state which appears to have become the favourite locale of blue-film producers.

On December 3 last year, Kullu police arrested seven persons for producing and selling blue films. As many as 1,500 CDs were seized from Kullu and neighbouring areas though police are still clueless about the identity of the heroines of seven such movies with titles like Miss Manali, Miss Mandi-1, Miss Mandi-2 and Miss Sundarnagar. The films were shot in local hotels.

If what she says is true, former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta, who was last week released on bail, also began her journey into the world of flesh in Himachal.

The 18-year-old, who has accused Jammu cable operator Narender Kohli of raping and then forcing her into pornography with false promises of a break in Bollywood, said he took her to Himachal last year.

?He convinced my parents that he is taking me to a fashion show in Himachal. He forced me to sleep with his associate Yogesh Sharma, saying that he was a Bollywood producer and would change my life. He made a blue film of me and Yogesh Sharma promising that it will not harm me. I was helpless. I agreed,? Anara told police during questioning.

The film, she claimed, was shot in a hotel, either in Manali or Shimla. She also claimed local girls were being forced to do pornographic films.

A Manali-based hotelier rued that tourist spots in the state were fast turning into flesh trade centres. ?Sex workers, masseurs, dancers, local blue films and narcotics are available even in remote spots,? he said.

Sources said local blue films are made clandestinely or with sex workers who either hide their face or belong to unknown places. These are shot in hotels and then dubbed and edited in Chandigarh or in nearby cities.

The films which were seized in Kullu last year were also edited in Chandigarh. Sumitra?, a popular Kullu folk song, was used as background.

During the raids last December, Kullu police arrested Tek Chand, a local resident, and seized copies of a blue film with the title Kullu Ke Jalwe. A local computer operator, Yugal Tandon, and his wife Meena were also arrested. Master prints of local blue films, which were without background music, were also seized.

But the police could not trace the girls who had acted in the films. After Anara?s revelations, they are probing whether she acted in some of the CDs that were seized in Himachal.

?The racket which was busted last year only dubbed local folk songs in the blue films. So far we have not found any clue that the films were shot in Himachal Pradesh. The state police will render full cooperation to Jammu and Kashmir police. We will not spare the guilty if Anara Gupta?s charges prove true,? said Himachal director-general of police A.K. Puri.

Anara?s disclosures have propelled Kullu police into action and they are hoping to unravel the identity of the heroines of the films. It was alleged that one of them resembled a college girl of Mandi, a town near Kullu.

As for Anara, she has vowed to fight back. The girl, whose participation in the beauty pageant in 2001 was possible only after the organisers bent eligibility rules for age, has warned future aspirants to be wary of people who promise ?breaks? in films. ?I want to fight back the rotten system by facing society and staying back in Jammu. I want to resume my studies. Fashion and beauty shows are a breeding ground for flesh trade.?