Child trafficking: CID files murder case against unknown persons

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) is digging into the possibility of a connection between the doctors accused in the new born children trafficking racket with their counterparts in Bangladesh.

The CID on Thursday filed a case of murder against unknown persons following exhumation of the remains of two infants while probing the international child trafficking racket busted at Baduria in North 24-Parganas district.

A case under section 302 (punishment for murder) of IPC has been registered by the CID against unknown persons in connection with the exhumation of the remains of the two infants, a senior officer of the CID said on Thursday.

CID officers came to know that about involvement of some more nursing homes authorities in the city in the child trafficking racket and it also includes a few more doctors. The investigating agency already arrested three MBBS doctors and a quack in this connection. 

CID suspects that the arrested doctors are aware of the people from the city who had established links with human traffickers in Bangladesh. The CID had started suspecting international link of the racket here since the day foreign currency was found in the nursing home at Baduria. The investigating officers have interrogated the arrested doctors and sources said that they have come to know about the kingpins of the racket.

Instead of taking any hasty steps, the officers are trying to arrest each and everyone involved in the racket so that they could know how far they had spread their tentacles. 

It is learnt that besides selling babies to the people in Bengal and other parts of the country, they had also trafficked newborn children to a neighbouring country. Thus, the police are trying to gather information about the linkmen who are mainly from the bordering areas in the state. They came to know that the babies were trafficked to the neighbouring country through the porous border.

The investigating officers suspect that some children might have died on way as the traffickers didn’t give them sufficient food and treatment when they carry them to handover to the buyers.

Meanwhile, a newborn boy was rescued from an open field in Burdwan district, police said on Thursday.

“A baby boy aged between 10-12 days was rescued from Ulara village in Burdwan district’s Memari on Wednesday evening. The kid was lying deserted at the corner of a village field,” said an officer from Memari police station.

“We haven’t received any claims for the child’s custody yet,” he added. A villager first heard the child’s cry and informed Memari police station and the child helpline on Wednesday evening.

“The newborn is kept at the local child home in Memari,” police said.

The incident came to light amid increased police vigil throughout the state to prevent child trafficking. Three children, including a baby girl were recovered on Wednesday from South 24 Parganas, while 10 more newborn girls were recovered from a Kolkata-based old age home last week when child smuggling racket was busted.