Accused sold a baby for Rs 3 lakh in Hyderabad in February

Dalvi was arrested by the VP Road police in February for allegedly selling a newborn baby to a Hyderabad couple for Rs 3 lakh and prior to that she was held by the Wadala TT police in a similar case in 2017.

The Mumbai crime branch, on Monday discovered that 32-year-old accused, Jhulemma Ismail Dalvi, arrested in connection with a recent child trafficking case, had history of similar charges.

Dalvi was arrested by the VP Road police in February for allegedly selling a newborn baby to a Hyderabad couple for Rs 3 lakh and prior to that she was held by the Wadala TT police in a similar case in 2017.

Dalvi is part of the child-trafficking racket which was busted by unit 6 of the crime branch last week.

Four women who were part of the gang, including the kingpin Bhagyashree Koli, were arrested and two boys, aged one-and-a-half years old and two-and-a-half years old, respectively, were rescued from Delhi and brought back to Mumbai.

“The women’s gang involved in child trafficking has connections with people in other states as well. They are not revealing the number of children they have allegedly bought and sold, but the operation has been on for more than three years,” said a crime branch officer.

Police also arrested Abhinav Agrawal, 42, his sister Neha Gupta, and their cousin Rahul Gupta, who had bought the two boys for ₹2.5 lakh from Mumbai when they were newborn. The boys are currently under observation at the Bal Anand World Children Welfare Trust in Chembur. Agarwal, Rahul and Neha were produced in court and granted judicial custody.