Police have arrested six persons in connection with the trafficking of a one-year-old girl of Sowripalayam in Coimbatore City. The arrested include the child’s father Raman (28) and couple from Thengapattinam in Kanyakumari district, to whom the child was sold.
On Saturday, the Peelamedu Police and the Anti Human Trafficking Wing Police returned from Kanyakumari with the child who was handed over to her mother Meena. Shalini, who was reunited with her mother after a gap of 11-days, is the third daughter of the couple. Raman had lamented to Thangasamy and Kumarasamy from Kanyakumari that faced difficulty in managing the family.
The duo had suggested that he give away his youngest daughter. Though Raman initially refused, he gave in after they offered him money. Meanwhile at Kanyakumari district, Vijayakumar (42) a mason and his wife Raniprabha (38) who did not have a child for more than 15 years approached a nurse Rita (35) – a friend of Thangasamy and Kumarasamy – for a child.
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After negotiations, Thangasamy, Kumarasamy and Rita plotted with Raman to take the child to Kanyakumari. The family of five went to Kanyakumari on July 27.
There, Raman gave money to Meena and asked her to take the elder daughters for shopping and offered to take care of one-year-old Shalini. Raman later told Meena – who returned from shopping – that Shalini was missing.
After searching for the child they returned to Coimbatore. Meena grew suspicions of her husband as he had a lot of money.
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Later Raman confessed to selling their daughter. Meena lodged a complaint with the city police who registered a case and launched a search for the missing child.
Inquiries revealed that Thangasamy, Kumarasamy and Rita bought the baby for Rs. 65,000 from Raman and sold her to Vijayakumar and Raniprabha for Rs. 2.25 lakh. The police arrested Raman, Thangasamy, Kumarasamy, Rita, Vijayakumar and his wife Raniprabha and remanded them in judicial custody.
The child was reunited with her mother after a gap of 11 days