Child sale racket: cops arrest agent from Delhi

The accused, Pawan Sharma, 42, lives in Sat Nagar in Delhi with his wife and three children. According to police, he has been running an IVF centre ‘Unique Fertility Care’ since 2013, which was visited by several egg donors and surrogate mothers.

The Mumbai crime branch on Friday arrested a Delhi-based agent involved in a child-selling racket that was busted in July. The accused, Pawan Sharma, along with the main accused Bhagyashree Koli, had sold two 15-day-old boys to two parents in Delhi in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

A police team stayed in Delhi for at least one week in Delhi but could not trace Sharma. The police were recently tipped off by a local informant, following which a team went to Delhi, brought him to the city and arrested him on Friday. (HT FILE)

The accused, Pawan Sharma, 42, lives in Sat Nagar in Delhi with his wife and three children. According to police, he has been running an IVF centre ‘Unique Fertility Care’ since 2013, which was visited by several egg donors and surrogate mothers.

On July 1, crime branch unit 6 arrested Koli and three other women from Kalyan. “During interrogation, Koli revealed that she had sold two newborn boys to Delhi-based businessmen through Sharma,” said deputy commissioner of police Akbar Pathan of the crime branch.

Two boys, aged one-and-a-half and two years, were rescued from Delhi on July 8. Three accused – Abhinav Agrawal, 42; his younger sister Neha Gupta; and their cousin Rahul Gupta – who bought the children for ₹2.5 lakh each from Mumbai were arrested, said the official.

A police team stayed in Delhi for at least one week in Delhi but could not trace Sharma. The police were recently tipped off by a local informant, following which a team went to Delhi, brought him to the city and arrested him on Friday.

So far, the crime branch has 14 people and rescued six boys – four from the city and two from Delhi – in the case.

Police claimed that they have traced the five boys’ parents residing in slum at Govandi, Deonar, Kalva and Kalyan. Howecer, their DNA tests are pending in Kalina FSL.