Police in Coimbatore were in for a surprise when they raided the Saranya Lodge near Mettupalayam. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided the lodge on Wednesday night. Akin to a movie where a secret chamber is present behind a picture, they found a small room behind a mirror inside one the rooms and rescued a woman.

"We had searched all the rooms and found them empty. But one-off the rooms had two mirrors each located in opposite directions. On pushing one of the mirrors opened towards inside," a police official in Mettupalayam told IANS.

He said the lodge owner/operator had converted part of the bathroom into a secret room. "With the help of a small stool one can climb into or outside of the small room," the police official said.

The police arrested two persons for running a sex racket in the lodge and rescued a 22-year-old woman from Bengaluru who was in the secret room.

The police said K. Mahendran had taken the lodge on lease and had employed R. Ganesan as a staff.

The business took a hit due to COVID-19 lockdown as most of the customers were tourists to Ooty.

The police said it is yet to be ascertained whether the room was built by Mahendran or by earlier operators.

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