The police have arrested two more persons in connection with the trafficking of two newborns from Bihar and selling them to two couples in Coimbatore and Andhra Pradesh.
The arrested have been identified as Poonam Devi, 61, and her daughter Neha Kumari, 21, both from Darbhanga in Bihar.
They have been accused of abducting two newborns from their native and handing them over to a couple hailing from Bihar, who were running an eatery at Appanaickenpatti near Sulur in Coimbatore district.
The police had arrested the couple, M. Maheshkumar, 34, and his wife M. Anjalikumari, 24, on June 3 based on an alert from the Child Line, after receiving specific information that they were involved in child trafficking.
The investigators found that the couple sold a seven-day-old female child to D. Vijayan, 48, a farmer from Lakshminaickenpalayam near Sulur, for ₹2.5 lakh and another male child to a truck driver in Andhra Pradesh two years ago. The police rescued the boy from Andhra Pradesh on June 3 and the girl the next day. Vijayan was arrested on June 8.
During the interrogation, Maheshkumar and his wife told the police Poonam Devi and Neha Kumari gave them the children. Based on their confession, the mother-daughter duo was arrested on June 9.
The police said a detailed investigation was being carried out to check whether the four Bihar natives abducted more children and sold them to people in Tamil Nadu and other places.
