CID busts huge child trafficking racket, 8 held

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday night busted an inter-state child trafficking racket at Baduria in North 24 Parganas and arrested eight persons including two women for their alleged involvement in this connection.

Acting on a tip-off a team comprising senior officials of the CID carried out a raid at a private nursing home at Baduria under Basirhat sub-division. Police have come to know that the nursing home, Sohan Nursing Home and Polyclinic was allegedly being operated illegally for last two years. Police have recovered three newborn babies out of which two were placed in a large biscuit packing case and the accused were preparing to traffic the babies.

BL Meena, DIG of CID said that on the basis of specific information, a team of CID officials conducted a raid at a nursing home on Monday night and booked eight persons for operating a child trafficking racket from there.

Among the arrested there are the nursing home owner Asaduzzaman, Nazma Bibi, a local medicine shop owner, Satyajit Sinha, key-operator of the local NGO , another member of the NGO, Utpala Byapari, a quack Amilur Biswas, law clerk of Basirhat court Prabhat Sarkar and his associate Jhantu Biswas, who is also a lawyer of the same court. 

According to the CID, Nazma was one of the main accused who used to actively run the racket from her medicine shop situated close to the nursing home. Prabhat and his associate lawyer Jhantu used to make fake documents of the babies and helped the racket in trafficking, an official said.

While talking about the modus operandi, a senior CID official said that the authorities of the private nursing home used to tell the family members of the women admitted to the nursing home that they had delivered stillborn babies and had trafficked them through a local NGO. In the course of the investigation the CID officials came to know that the racket had trafficked babies not only in other states but abroad also.

Besides various parts of Bengal and other states, the babies have sometimes been trafficked to USA as well, an official said. Investigating officers suspect that the racket had already trafficked over 30 children to other districts, states and countries. They used to get around Rs 2-3 lakh for each baby boy while Rs one lakh against a girl child. The accused used to earn around Rs 6 lakh against each babies who were trafficked to USA, police came to know during interrogation. 

A senior CID official said: “We have come to know in the course of investigation that two more doctors, including a retired physician of Kolkata’s R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, were involved in the racket and they will be nabbed very soon. As the matter is under investigation, it would not be possible for us to disclose the name of doctors at this point of time.”

The arrested were produced at Basirhat sub-divisional court on Tuesday and remanded in CID custody for 14 days.