Woman sells infant to post bail for husband; child trafficking racket exposed

A 32-year-old woman from Dadar has been arrested for allegedly selling her 45-day-old girl child to raise money to post bail for her husband

MUMBAI: A 32-year-old woman from Dadar has been arrested for allegedly selling her 45-day-old girl child to raise money to post bail for her husband, who has been arrested for stealing scrap from railway premises. Even more disturbing is that this is not an isolated case; it is part of a suspected child trafficking racket in a trail that leads all the way to Karnataka.

Police say this is part of a suspected child trafficking racket in a trail that leads all the way to Karnataka.. (HT Photo)

Along with the mother of the baby – the infant has been rescued by from Karwar in Karnataka – eight others have been arrested. Police said they suspect the involvement of doctors in the trafficking racket.

Matunga police had received a complaint from Pramila Pawar, 51, who claimed that her daughter-in-law, Manisha Yadav, 32, had sold her baby girl to some people in Bengaluru. “We registered a case under Sections 143 (trafficking of person) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, and under various sections of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015,” said deputy commissioner of police, R Ragasudha of Zone IV.

Suspecting this was part of a trafficking racket, Ragasudha dispatched teams to various places, including Ulhasnagar, Surat and Vadodara. They arrested Manisha Yadav, the mother of the infant, along with Sulochana Kamble, 45, who worked as house-help and helped Manisha sell her daughter.

This was followed by a series of arrests that included Mira Yadav, 40, a nurse; Yogesh Bhoir, 37, a property agent from Sewri; Roshni Ghosh, 34, a marriage broker and resident of Kalyan; Sandhya Rajput, 48, also a marriage broker and a resident of Ulhasnagar maker; Madina Chavan, 44, also a marriage broker of sorts and a resident of Vadodara; Tainaz Chavan, 19, a house-help from Vadodara; and Baby Tamboli, 50, from Miraj. Police said all the accused have been remanded to police custody till December 19.

“The baby was sold for ₹4 lakh. However, the mother got only ₹1.5 lakh and the remaining sum was taken by middlemen. We have learnt that the main accused, who we have just detained and cannot name, has similarly sold four more children. They are not from Mumbai. He has also claimed that some doctors from Karnataka are involved in the racket,” said a police officer.

The investigation is at a preliminary stage and, police said, they need more details to before they can provide a clearer picture of how the racket operated.