The Gurugram police on Monday arrested four more members of the infant trafficking gang which was involved in stealing, buying and selling newborns in different states in the country. With this, nine members of the gang have been arrested so far, police said.
The four suspects in police custody on Monday. (Sourced)
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The suspects were identified as Kanchan Kaur, Reena, Satyender Prasad and Palak alias Sarabjeet, all residents of Rohini in Delhi. Police said Kanchan and Palak were touts who used to buy and sell children, and Reena and Satyender are a married couple.
Police said they also recovered a stolen child from Palak.
Police said that the 12-member gang had distributed their roles and responsibilities and three of them used to strike a deal with the buyers, while the rest used to travel to other states to identify issueless couples.
In the past two days, the Gurugram police arrested five members, including four women, of the gang.
Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the gang members used to convince couples from the economically weaker section to sell their children. “They targeted those who already had at least three children and were in dire need of money. They would visit slums and used to take up a room on rent for two months. They used to befriend people and convince them to sell their newborns,” he said.
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Sangwan said the gang members used to buy an infant for anything between ₹20,000 and ₹2 lakh and sell the child for ₹50,000- ₹10 lakh.
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Sangwan said the gang members used to buy an infant for anything between ₹20,000 and ₹2 lakh and sell the child for ₹50,000- ₹10 lakh.
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Two of the suspects -- Surender Kaur and Neha -- who were arrested on Saturday were earlier arrested in 2014 for the similar crime. They had data of more than 300 families, said police, adding that they have recovered their mobile phones and are scanning the data to get exact number of infants sold.
Sangwan said they have recovered a few numbers of surrogacy clinics in Delhi, Gwalior and Jaipur. “We have recovered several fake surrogacy certificates and names of women are same in all certificates who is of one of the suspects,” he said.
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The suspects used to visit fertility centres in different states and used to look for childless couples. Then they would source contacts of such couples and later used to give them offers, police said.
Police also said that the members of the gang were in touch with other such gangs in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
Four teams of the Gurugram police have left for some of these states to question a few doctors and their staff, said police.
Leena Dhankhar is Senior Editor and Bureau Chief, Gurugram, at Hindustan Times, where she has spent over 17 years chronicling the transformation of one of India's fastest-growing urban regions. From starting her career as a crime reporter to leading the Gurugram bureau, her journalism has been defined by investigative reporting, in-depth storytelling and an unwavering focus on public interest.
Over nearly two decades, she has reported extensively across crime, politics, civic governance, elections, real estate, environment, courts, sports, education and entertainment, covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh and Palwal. Her reporting has exposed several major scams and systemic failures, including insurance frauds, waste management irregularities, illegal arms manufacturing units in Nuh, illegal mining in the Aravallis, organised crime networks and governance lapses affecting millions of residents.
Known for her investigative work and exclusive stories, Leena has reported on high-impact national issues, including the Nicaragua charter flight carrying Indian migrants that was turned back amid allegations of human trafficking, exposing the growing network of illegal immigration rackets. Her work has also focused on gang wars, prison administration, juvenile crime, women and child protection systems, the functioning of the Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee, and environmental challenges such as pollution, waterlogging and deteriorating civic infrastructure.
Beyond hard news, Leena has extensively documented Haryana's rich heritage, forests and wildlife, bringing attention to the state's historical landmarks, biodiversity, conservation efforts and ecological challenges through immersive reportage and feature writing.
Her journalism has consistently gone beyond breaking news. She has documented Gurugram's rapid urbanisation through long-form narratives and enterprise reporting on issues ranging from pothole-ridden roads, flooding and waste management to the changing social fabric of India's Millennium City. She also writes widely read feature columns, including The Outsider, Changemaker, and Concern for Gurugram, profiling people, places and ideas shaping the city's identity.
Leena is the author of Gurugram School Murder, published by Juggernaut Books, a deeply reported account of one of India's most high-profile school murder investigations. She is currently working on her second book, an investigative work exploring some of India's most significant scams and fraud investigations.
Beyond print journalism, she has expanded her storytelling through public speaking and digital media. She is a TEDx speaker and has produced podcasts exploring Gurugram's transformation, civic challenges and untold stories. Her work reflects a commitment to narrative journalism that combines rigorous reporting with compelling storytelling.
A law graduate with an MBA in Human Resources, Leena brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her reporting, particularly on governance, public policy and legal affairs. She has travelled extensively across India to pursue investigative assignments, often reporting from remote locations and conflict-prone areas in search of stories that matter.
