Panaji, Aug 3 (IANS): Badgered by numerous websites advertising escort services and prostitution in Goa, the Crime Branch has written to the Delhi-based Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to block websites and disable popular keyword searches for escort services in the coastal state, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the assembly on Tuesday.

"The Cyber Crime P.S. in the past has written to CERT for blocking of sites and disabling key word search through search engines with keys words 'Goa escort', 'escort service in Goa', 'escort Goa'," Parsekar, who also holds the home ministry portfolio, told the Goa legislative assembly.

In a written reply on Tuesday during the ongoing monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly, Parsekar also said that "contact numbers and email addresses published on the escort (web)sites are analysed and the ownership pattern established and the data are shared with the Crime Branch for further action".

The chief minister also said that 106 criminal cases had been filed against websites promoting escorts services under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention Act) act over the last three years.