‘Baby sale’ racket busted in Gwalior, nursing home officials held

Police arrested on Sunday the director and owner of a nursing home in the Morar locality of this Madhya Pradesh city for allegedly selling newborns for anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh.

Police arrested on Sunday the director and owner of a nursing home in the Morar locality of this Madhya Pradesh city for allegedly selling newborns for anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh.

The babies were abandoned by unmarried mothers after delivery or impoverished couples who couldn’t afford to raise them, police sources said.

Superintendent of police Kumar Prateek said Palash Nursing Home owner TK Gupta and director Arun Bhadoria were charged with trafficking babies and taken into custody.

These babies were abandoned by unmarried mothers after delivery or impoverished couples who couldn’t afford to raise them, police sources said.

The racket was busted when crime branch sleuths, acting on a tip-off, raided the nursing home on Sunday and recovered a newborn boy and a girl with no record of their birth and other mandatory details with the private healthcare centre.

The director disclosed during interrogation that the babies were kept for sale to customers who could offer to them an amount between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh, Prateek said.

Police suspect the nursing home was involved in similar deals with customers in Lucknow and Gwalior in the past.