Govandi doctor, four others booked for attempting to sell newborn for ₹5 lakh

A doctor and four others were booked in Mumbai for allegedly attempting to sell a newborn for ₹5 lakh, following a police raid on a hospital.

MUMBAI: The Shivaji Nagar police have booked a doctor and four others attached to a Govandi hospital for allegedly attempting to sell a newborn boy for ₹5 lakh. The case surfaced on Saturday after a tip-off prompted police to raid the hospital.

Govandi doctor, four others booked for attempting to sell newborn for ₹5 lakh

According to investigators, Dr Qayamuddin Khan and hospital staff manager Anita Popat Sawant allegedly conspired to conduct the delivery of a 20-year-old unmarried woman, known to Dr Khan, without completing mandatory medical or legal procedures. The woman, eight months pregnant at the time, delivered the baby at the hospital, following which the accused allegedly ensured no documentation was filed.

Police said the woman abandoned the child soon after birth. Dr Khan and Sawant then allegedly handed over the baby to a woman identified as Shama alias Shafa alias Tom Boy, who in turn took the infant to another woman, Darshana. The group allegedly planned to sell the baby for ₹5 lakh.

Based on the complaint, police have registered offences under sections 93 (offense of abandoning a child under 12 years of age by a parent or legal guardian), 143(4) (punishment for the trafficking of a child) and 3(5) (joint liability for a criminal act) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS); sections 75 and 81 (punishment for cruelty to a child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015; sections 8 and 25 of the Birth and Death Registration Act; and Sections 33 and 36 of the Maharashtra Medical Professions Act, 1961.