Mumbai baby selling racket: 100 pictures of newborns found on accused’s phone

The police said they have got leads on the childless couples who bought the six newborns from Julia Fernandes

A 29-year-old woman, who was arrested last week for allegedly running a baby selling racket, used to send her clients photos of newborns on messaging application WhatsApp to crack a deal, said the Wadala TT police on Wednesday.

The police has already booked an autorickshaw driver and his wife who sold their seven-day-old baby to the accused for Rs20,000. (Pic for Representation)

The police managed to unlock accused Julia Fernandes’ phone five days after arresting her and found more than 100 pictures of newborns in it. According to the police, the woman and her agents ran the racket on the application.

“We are now tracking the phone numbers who have received the WhatsApp messages and photos from Fernandes, especially those who are outside Maharashtra,” said a Wadala TT police officer.

Meanwhile, the police said they have got leads on the childless couples who bought the six newborns from Fernandes. “We are in the process of tracking those couples and rescuing the babies,” added the officer.

Fernandes, who is being interrogated by the Wadala TT police, claimed that she was just acting as a middleman whose jobs was to crack deals with couples since she was well educated. Taking the babies from their parents and giving them to the couple who purchased them was all done by the agents who worked for IVF centres. Police added that Fernandes has not been co-operating with the probe. “She was taken to the hospital seven times in the past five days as she complained of seizures and leg pain owing to an accident she had had in the past,” said the officer.