A couple was arrested from Falta in South 24 Parganas on charges of trafficking newborn babies in connivance with owners of nursing homes, including some in the city.
Police said the accused Shyamal Baidya was remanded in police custody while his wife Sabitri Baidya was remanded in the judicial custody after being produced before the court. They were also involved with the Baduria child trafficking case that had unearthed a link between homes for destitute children and nursing homes for selling out newborn babies.
Three months ago, three newborn babies were recovered from a roadside bush at Tentulia in Falta in November. The police had initiated a probe after the babies were recovered. The investigating officers came to know that authorities of a local nursing home in Falta, which was also involved in child trafficking, had dumped the babies after the Baduria child trafficking incident came to light in November.
On Saturday the police arrested Prabir Khan, the owner of the nursing home, and his son. After interrogating them, the police came to know about Shyamal and Sabitri. Subsequently, they were picked up from their residence.
Shyamal confessed that he, along with his wife used to work as middlemen to help nursing home authorities get prospective customers to sell out children.
The accused confessed that the kingpins of the racket that used to operate mainly in Kolkata, North and South 24-Parganas were already arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The couple was well connected to all the arrested persons and they are also aware of the doctors involved in the racket.
Shyamal has claimed that he also had connection with Shree Krishna Nursing Home on Mahatma Gandhi Road at College Street. Dr Dilip Ghosh, who was also a BJP candidate from ward number 31 in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation election 2015, was arrested for his involvement with the racket. He was attached to Shree Krishna Nursing Home for the past 20 years.
Shyamal and his wife had moved to different places in the past 15 years to work hand-in-gloves with nursing homes in a particular area. Shyamal owns a palatial four-storey building in Falta. He also owns three more houses in different parts of South and North 24 Parganas.
After speaking to the local people, police came to know that Shyamal had made a huge property by earning fast cash. But people were in dark about his sources of money as Shyamal didn't work in any place.