Delhi Police bust gang for selling babies to childless couples
New delhi: Eight men and women, including a Delhi University graduate, have now been arrested by the Delhi Police for their involvement in running a child-selling operation. The gang targetted extremely vulnerable couples at their lowest and sold infants to them, some of whom were kidnapped and some others who were sold with the complicity of their biological parents, police here said, adding some infants were sold for Rs 8 lakh.
The Delhi Police have recovered two infants and suspect the gang had managed to sell a total of four children.
One official said, "On-demand babies were trafficked. If a family wants a male baby, skin colour was also among the criteria which decided the money. One of the babies was sold for Rs 8 lakh. We suspect four babies were sold. All angles being probed including any kind of political links."
The team under ACP Surender Kumar Gulia (Anti-Human Trafficking Unit) began its probe when one Preeti had lodged a report that her three-month-old boy had been kidnapped from outside the main gate of the Moti Bagh Gurudwara.
Preeti, who earns a living through begging, said that a woman had struck up a conversation with her outside the Gurudwara and offered to take care of her boy while she went to get food. She said the woman had disappeared with her boy by the time she got back.
The first to be nabbed was 37-year-old Gopal, the DU graduate and a property dealer. The team recovered Preeti's boy from Shakur Basti and arrested Gopal.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Monika Bharadwaj said, another accused, Geeta Randhawa (45) was later arrested after which they recovered another month-old infant from one Jyoti Goyal (37). Bhardwaj said, "Geeta has disclosed the names of one Pankaj and one Pinki. Pinki was the woman who stole, kidnapped the baby from outside Gurudwara Moti Bagh. She has confessed to her crime."
Officials added that Gopal was not happy with the money from property dealing and had been married twice. He met Geeta and the two of them then planned the ins and outs of the racket, police claimed. "Accused Pinki, Shrishti, Deepa, Pooja, Gautam and Manoj were involved in the gang of human trafficking run by accused Gopal," police said.
Significantly, the gang operated by exploiting the vulnerabilities of childless couples. In fact, police have said that to ensure the prospective buyer is in the most desperate situation, the gang would keep a track of their records at private IVF clinics, hospitals and specifically note if they were unable to conceive through IVF.
The gang would then approach these couples and state that the legal adoption process can be very lengthy and complicated, thus inducing them to buy the children. "The entire gang has confessed to selling more babies, some of which have the complicity of the biological parents of the babies also," police said.
Further investigation in the case is on to find out links to IVF centres, nursing homes to ascertain their role in illegal trafficking.
It is also being suspected that they might have given some money to poor people and then take their babies for further trafficking. Police are also probing whether the gang used to target poor people living on the street with their children.
