The Mysuru district police have intensified their probe into a possible child trafficking racket after the Nanjangud police unearthed the sale of two babies to childless couples through a 60-year-old intermediary and her daughter during the last fortnight.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Superintendent of Mysuru district police R. Chethan said the police has rescued both the infants, produced them before the Mysuru District Child Welfare Committee and sent them to a government-recognised child care and adoption centre.
The police began a probe into the matter after an anganwadi worker Shashikala, who was visiting the house of Jyothi, a resident of Thyagaraja colony in Nanjangud, as part of her duty to provide nutritious food to pregnant women, found the baby missing and informed the jurisdictional assistant child development officer, who lodged a police complaint on July 17.
During the investigation, the police learnt that Jyothi, who had lost her husband recently, had handed over new-born male baby to the main accused, Shrimathi, an intermediary, who had sold the infant to a childless couple in Holenarsipur for ₹4 lakh. When Ms. Shrimathi was interrogated, it came to light that another child born to Manjula, also a resident of Nanjangud, had been sold to a childless couple in Kollegal town. Ms. Shrimathi’s daughter Lakshmi had reportedly played a role in the sale of the child born to Manjula to the Kollegal couple.
The police is yet to ascertain the amount involved in the sale of girl child. Though Mr. Chethan said both the new-born children had been sold due to the ‘poverty’ of the biological mothers, the amount of money paid to them by the intermediary is yet to be established.
Ms. Shrimathi, who runs a play home for children in Nanjangud, and her daughter have been arrested for their role in the sale of the babies.
Police said the accused used to identify pregnant women, who did not wish to raise their babies due to poverty, before contacting childless couples and strike deals with them. After the deals were struck, the intermediary would admit the pregnant women to a private hospital on Shivaji Road at N.R. Mohalla in Mysuru, where the names of the biological parents would be replaced with the childless parents.
The police has booked a case against the hospital its role in facilitating falsification of documents. Nanjangud police inspector Lakshmikant Talwar said the investigation is continuing into the case to find out if more babies had been sold as part of the racket.
