Bhubaneswar, July 25: The arrest and subsequent interrogation of a 22-year-old foreigner, who was found lying in an inebriated state at Kharavela Nagar yesterday, led police to detain a youth accused of running a sex racket from a house in Patia.

The foreigner, who claimed to be a resident of Tashkent in Uzbekistan and had allegedly been lured into sex trade, lived at the Patia house, which the police raided today.

An Aadhaar card found in the possession of the woman had identified her as 22-year-old Duniya Khan and a resident of Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi. During their raid on the Patia house, the police also found an air ticket booked in the name of Duniya Khan. However, during interrogation she confessed to the police that she was an Uzbek national and her real name was Zeboo Asalina.

The police are trying to ascertain the nationality claim of the woman who was arrested on Monday on charges of assaulting and misbehaving with cops in an inebriated condition. Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said they were also trying to trace the owner of the duplex house that had been sealed.

"We are also interrogating the caretaker of the house to extract more information about the visitors to the house. Though the arrested woman claimed to be a resident of Uzbekistan, we are yet to confirm this. We will get in touch with the Uzbekistan Embassy to verify her claim," Bhoi said.

"The duplex house has five bedrooms and we have found a number of liquor bottles and condom packets there," said a police officer. He said they had found three mobile phones from the pimp, who hailed from Midnapore in Bengal. The Uzbek woman also claimed that the detained youth had brought her to the city.

"One of the mobiles contained several photographs of women, including that of the arrested Uzbek national. Besides, when we went though the messages on his phone, we found that he had been bargaining with clients for providing escort service as well," the cop said.

The police suspect the role of another woman, who they feel was running the sex racket at the duplex house in collusion with the pimp. The police have launched a hunt to trace the suspect woman, who they belief is closely associated with Sunil Meher. Cops in the past had arrested Meher on several occasions for his involvement in flesh trade.

"The woman, for whom the pimp is allegedly working, is believed to be one of the three wives of Meher who also runs a sex racket. As she was closely involved with Meher, she is aware of the source of procuring foreign nationals from Delhi to engage them in the trade. We are trying to nab the woman also," said a police officer.

Talking about the pimp, he said: "The detained youth had worked for Meher for five years and had never been arrested before. He used to identify himself as the driver of Meher."

The police suspect the youth had been running Meher's sex rackets after the latter's arrest in April last year. Meher's name had surfaced after Chandrasekharpur police rescued a 30-year-old sex worker from Kyrgyzstan on March 23. The police later arrested a person called Somesh Panda, who had brought the foreign national to Bhubaneswar. Panda had close links with Meher.

As for the "Uzbek national", she was spotted sleeping on a pavement holding a liquor bottle on Sunday night near a posh hotel at Kharavela Nagar. She had assaulted the cops when they reached the spot to rescue her. She had even created a ruckus at Capital Hospital and attacked cops.

The jail authorities, however, have had a different experience with the woman. Lodged in the female ward of Jharapada jail, a prison official said she had so far been calm in her behaviour.

"She is taking food like other undertrial prisoners and have interacted with some of the jail mates," said jail superintendent R.N Swain.