Delhi kidnapping leads to 10 arrests, recovery of 6 infants from UP

The Delhi Police arrested 10 persons associated with the ring from multiple cities of Uttar Pradesh and recovered six infants in the process, including the one abducted from Delhi

New Delhi

On August 22, Suresh Prasad, a brickmaker from UP’s Banda, informed the city police that his six-month-old son was kidnapped from a platform of the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT (Representative photo)

Posing as a patient with acute cardiac distress, the Delhi Police infiltrated a hospital in Uttar Pradesh and busted a ring of child traffickers, including a doctor and a medical representative, officers aware of the case said on Monday, adding that the developments followed the abduction of a child from the Sarai Kale Khan interstate bus terminal in August.

The Delhi Police arrested 10 persons associated with the ring from multiple cities of Uttar Pradesh and recovered six infants in the process, including the one abducted from Delhi.

“Of the six rescued children, one was related to the kidnapping case that was registered on August 22 at Sunlight Colony police station on the complaint of his parents. We are in the process of identifying and locating the biological parents of the other five infants. The children were brought to Delhi and produced before the child welfare committee (CWC) that sent them to shelter homes in Delhi,” deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Hemant Tiwari said.

Interrogation of the suspects revealed they had been abducting and selling infants, especially baby boys, for the past three years and had played a role in at least 10 such sales to childless couples for ₹2- ₹5 lakh.

“The gang members tricked the families into believing that the children were up for adoption and they were adopting them through legal means,” DCP Tiwari said.

On August 22, Suresh Prasad, a brickmaker from UP’s Banda, informed the city police that his six-month-old son was kidnapped from a platform of the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, while he was waiting with his wife and four children to board a bus to Rajasthan. They were sitting on the platform, when the incident took place around 10.30pm, police said.

Investigators registered a case, scanned CCTV cameras installed at the ISBT and spotted two men kidnapping the infant and leaving in a Fatehabad-bound bus. Further inquiry, coupled with technical surveillance, revealed that the suspects had disembarked from the bus at Pinahat Dehat, Fatehabad.

On August 24, a Delhi Police team led by inspector Rajender Dagar arrested Veerbhan,30, and his 50-year-old father-in-law, Kalicharan, who disclosed that they kidnapped the child on the instructions of their associate, Rambaran, who is still absconding. The two had handed off the infant to one Dr Kamlesh Kumar, the owner of KK Hospital in Agra, for ₹1.5 lakh, police said.

On August 25, the inspector got himself admitted to the hospital, complaining of acute chest pain. Two sub-inspectors posed as his attendants and insisted on the patient being treated by Dr Kumar.

“Their meticulous pretence worked as Kamlesh Kumar agreed to come to the hospital. The inspector and the two SIs were sent to his chamber, revealed their identities, arrested him and interrogated him on the whereabouts of the kidnapped child. He had sold the child to a medical representative (MR) identified as Sundar Singh,35, who was later arrested from the UP-Rajasthan border, following a 50-km chase while he was trying to flee after learning about the raid at the hospital,” the DCP said.

Additional DCP (southeast) Aishwarya Sharma said that Singh had sold the child to two sisters in Agra, Krishna Sharma, 28, and Preet Sharma, 30. Their house was raided and the child was safely rescued. The sisters were arrested and they disclosed that the child was to be sold to another contact, Jyotsna Yadav, 39, at Balaganj in Lucknow, through a mediator, Ritu,40, from Agra. All of them were arrested and interrogating them led to the recovery of a girl from Nainital.

“Yadav said she had sold a two-month-old baby boy to a family in Agra and he was also rescued. Further probe revealed that Sunder had sold one child to a family in Agra through Rachita Mittal alias Rubina, 42. Ribuna was arrested and her interrogation led to the rescue of two more children, including a 10-day-old baby boy, from Agra. Further probe led to the arrest of the 10th member of the gang, Nikhil Kumar,22 through whom Sundar had sold a baby girl to a family in Fatehabad in August. The baby girl was also rescued from one Kamini, whose role is being probed,” Sharma said.

Police said probe is still going on and they may make more arrests in the case.