Officials said the arrests were part of a month-long undercover operation, code named ‘Operation Big Daddy’, launched in October.

The investigation initially focussed on an escort service pop-up advertisement that appeared on the Internet.

It soon expanded in scope and gathered pace leading to the arrest of several persons, mostly alleged procurers, in the past two months.

The women detained as part of the operation were treated as victims of human trafficking, counselled and reunited with their families.

Investigators tapped into the online sex trafficking network by posing as well-heeled clients with special preferences.

They received photographs of "escorts" as encrypted messages (mostly WhatsApp) on their mobile phones. The age of the women, the duration and nature of the service they were required to offer decided their price.

On Tuesday night, the Crime Branch arrested four women the suspected procurers had allegedly flown in from Bangalore to pair off with their customers in Kochi.  

The full details of the case are yet to emerge. The police have not yet made public what was the trail of evidence that led them to Mr. Rahul. Currently the suspects, including one Akbar of Kasargode, were in police custody in Thiruvananthapuram.

The arrest of Rahul has caused a ripple in the social media. Many opined that they believed that Rahul was the latest victim of the big brother attitude of the State.

Rahul and his wife had shot to fame in November last when they become the symbols of a vast movement against perceived moral policing tendencies in society.

The "Kiss of Love" movement, as it came to be known, sharply divided public opinion over the overt physical expression of love among willing partners.