A bench of justices R V More and Anuja Prabhudessai gave the directions while hearing a plea by a city couple alleging that their two daughters, aged 23 and 21, had been ensnared by the cult group Shifu Sunkriti, which operated on social media, and its founder Kulkarni.
The parents claimed they approached the police repeatedly since December last year to seek action against the cult group but in vain.
Additional Public Prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde told the court that the police was conducting an inquiry into the case and was taking steps to trace the accused.
The court got irked with this and said the first thing the police should do is to lodge an FIR in the case.
"First thing the police needs to do is to lodge FIR and then trace the accused. All this should be stopped. If the police is unable to take appropriate action, we will ask the CID or the CBI to step in and take over the probe," Justice More said.
"How can the police take such serious cases so casually? It is very unfortunate that the police is not taking this seriously. What steps have you (police) taken to trace the accused? The police has let him (accused) go scotfree till now despite knowing fully well what his antecedents are," Justice Prabhudessai said.
"We are not at all satisfied with the police investigation. It shows a very sorry state of affairs. The police cannot express helplessness in such serious cases. It is apparently a sex and drugs racket and police is taking it very lightly knowing fully well that several girls and boys are trapped," the court said.
According to the parents, their daughters left home early this year allegedly under the influence of Kulkarni and his group.
The petition alleged Shifu Sunkriti was a "sex and drug racket" that contacts young girls on Facebook and other social networking sites.
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