Strap: Entire crime conducted under false pretext of adoption; ASHA worker and a midwife among those arrested
The Fatehgarh Sahib police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a human trafficking racket involved in buying and selling newborn children in different states by arresting eight people, including an ASHA worker and a midwife.
The entire crime was conducted under the false pretext of adoption.
The incident has again exposed the involvement of health department employees in the organised human trafficking network in the state. Last week, three people, including a health department employee, Kuldeep Kaur of Sangrur district, were arrested while selling a newborn in the Shambhu area of Patiala district.
Fatehgarh Sahib police stated that a child was born on June 23 at Deep Hospital in Mandi Gobindgarh town in Fatehgarh Sahib district. The ASHA worker, Kamlesh Kaur, and her husband, Bhim Singh, midwife Charan Kaur, and a woman named Amandeep Kaur, alias Amrita from Jalandhar, allegedly sold the child after tricking the father of the infant. The trio, Kamlesh, Charan and Amandeep, allegedly sold the newborn to Rupinder Kaur and Beant Singh for ₹4 lakh.
Following the arrests, the police recovered ₹4 lakh from the accused. On interrogation, the accused revealed that the child had been taken to Kolkata by Rupinder and Beant. “We dispatched a team to Kolkata, where the infant was recovered on June 29. Rupinder and Beant along with their Kolkata-based contact Parshant Prashar have been arrested, and the newborn was presented before the Child Welfare Committee in Kolkata,” said the SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib, Shubham Aggarwal.
{{/usCountry}}Following the arrests, the police recovered ₹4 lakh from the accused. On interrogation, the accused revealed that the child had been taken to Kolkata by Rupinder and Beant. “We dispatched a team to Kolkata, where the infant was recovered on June 29. Rupinder and Beant along with their Kolkata-based contact Parshant Prashar have been arrested, and the newborn was presented before the Child Welfare Committee in Kolkata,” said the SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib, Shubham Aggarwal.
{{/usCountry}}The SSP, while explaining the modus operandi in such cases, said that the accused target economically vulnerable families and purchase their newborns at nominal sums and resell them at hefty prices.
The entire crime was conducted under the false pretext of adoption, qualifying it as a clear case of human trafficking,” said the SSP.
When asked about the role of the ASHA worker, Aggarwal said that she was among the main conspirators of the crime. He added that they have already written to the state health department to take action.