Two held for trying to sell infant for Rs.3 lakh

The owner of a nursing home and his woman accomplice were arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch for alleged involvement in an organised human trafficking racket after a two-month-old baby girl, who was being sold for Rs.3 lakh, was rescued from East Jyoti Nagar here on Wednesday.

The case comes days after a newborn baby boy from Ludhiana in Punjab was sold to a Delhi businessman for Rs.8 lakh following a deal struck between him and the child’s maternal grandfather through a social networking site. Four persons, including the grandfather and two employees of a Ludhiana-based private nursing home, were arrested in that case.

Acting on a tip-off that some persons were planning to sell off an infant and were looking for a prospective buyer, the Delhi Police Crime Branch in coordination with non-government organisation Shakti Vahini sent a decoy customer to strike a deal.

The deal was struck for Rs.3 lakh and soon after the baby girl was handed over to the decoy, the police arrested the accused persons. They were identified as Sumit Sharma (28) and Niharika (26). During interrogation, Sumit purportedly disclosed that he ran a nursing home at Loni in Uttar Pradesh. He recently came in contact with one Dina Nath who was involved in human trafficking. Lured by the offer made by Dina Nath, he allegedly agreed to join his gang. The two accused had a few days ago managed to arrange the baby girl whom they were planning to sell.

“The accused belongs to Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. He came to Delhi in 2003 and started working at a medical store in Loni. Four years later, he got enrolled in an Ayurvedic medicine course with an institute in Bihar, but could not pursue his studies. He then started a nursing home in Loni. His accomplice Niharika had met Sumit in 2006. She is pursuing a nursing course from a college in Meerut,” said the officer, adding that the child has been kept in the custody of an NGO.

The police who have learnt that the child was procured from Shastri Park are now trying to trace the baby’s biological parents.