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Child trafficking racket: SIT formed, doctor couple’s hospitals sealed
The government railway police (GRP), which busted this racket, had also arrested a doctor couple-- Prem Behari, 38, and his wife Dayawati, 38 -- from Hathras, who was allegedly running the entire illegal business.
A special investigation team (SIT) will now investigate the child-trafficking racket in which a 7-month-old boy, allegedly bought for ₹1.8 lakh, was recovered from the house of Firozabad’s BJP corporator Vinita Agarwal, 49, on Monday. The government railway police (GRP), which busted this racket, had also arrested a doctor couple-- Prem Behari, 38, and his wife Dayawati, 38 -- from Hathras, who was allegedly running the entire illegal business.
Besides adding sections of human trafficking to the case of kidnapping registered at GRP Mathura, another case was registered at Hathras Gate police station on Tuesday against the doctor couple who were running two hospitals in Hathras. Both named -- Bankey Behari Hospitals—were sealed after an FIR was filed on the complaint of Hathras chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Manjit Singh. Meanwhile, Vinita Agarwal, presently in jail, was expelled from the party. In a letter dated August 30, 2022, issued by the state general secretary Govind Narain Shukla in Lucknow, Vinita Agarwal was expelled with immediate effect for ‘conduct contrary to ethics of party’.
“An SIT has been constituted to investigate the matter. In all, eight persons have been arrested, and more are being traced for being involved in the case as the investigation continues. The criminal past of the doctor couple was being investigated as this case under investigation does not seem to be an isolated incident but a well-spread network,” informed SP GRP Mushtaq Mohammad while talking to HT.
“A case has also been registered in Hathras where the doctor couple resides and runs a hospital. The hospital-- Bankey Behari Hospital -- was sealed. The husband is a dentist while his wife is an Ayurvedic practitioner and both were involved in state governments’ health services on contract,” informed SP.
“More arrests are to be made and investigations are on regarding the two accused Poonam (43) and Vimlesh (38) as it was revealed that they are working as ANM (auxiliary nursing midwifery) on contract for government welfare schemes,” the SP GRP said, who would be heading the SIT constituted today. The SIT will also have one inspector, two sub-inspectors, a head constable and four constables of GRP, the SP GRP said.
On Tuesday, Dr Manjit Singh, the chief medical officer (CMO) of Hathras raided the Bankey Behari Hospital run by the accused doctor couple at two locations in Hathras.
On his complaint, an FIR was registered against the accused doctor couple.
“The case has been registered at Hathras Gate police station under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 15(3) (punishment for an act in contravention to the provision of Indian Medical Council) of Indian Medical Council Act 1956 against the accused doctor couple Dr Prem Behari, a pharmacist, and Dr Dayawati. A hospital in Naval Nagar locality was run by Prem Behari, a pharmacist at the city health centre, and was having 10 beds against the sanction of four and delivery was being conducted through surgery despite sanction for normal delivery only. The doctors registered with CMO were also not found in the hospital and the staff ran away during the inspection,” CMO Hathras stated in the FIR.
“The other hospital at Hathras Junction was run by DR Dayawati, the medical officer at RBSK Community Health Centre was also inspected and here too similar violations were found. As such the hospitals running in violation of health guidelines were sealed,” CMO Hathras further stated.
It may be recalled that a child sleeping next to his mother on the platform at Mathura railway station on August 24 was abducted. After searching for several days, he was recovered from the house of a BJP corporator from Firozabad with investigators identifying a racket, headed by a doctor couple from Hathras.
GRP had registered a case on the complaint of the mother under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for kidnapping. On Monday, sections related to Human Trafficking Act were also added to the original complaint.
The arrest of Deep Kumar who was identified via CCTV footage and his call details gave the police clues to the identity of others involved in the racket and also revealed the whereabouts of the child.
This led to the arrest of the doctor couple - Prem Behari, 38, and his wife Dayawati, 38 and four of their associates, Deep Kumar, 40, Poonam, 43, Manjeet, 43, and Vimlesh, 38. Also arrested were the BJP corporator Vinita Agarwal and her husband Krishna Murari Agrawal.
