Child racket: 5 more held, 1 rescued

HYDERABAD: A day after a woman trafficking children was arrested and a 10-day-old baby girl was rescued by RGI Airport police, five more persons, including kingpin Gangadhar Reddy, were arrested by Cyberabad police on Wednesday. Another infant was also rescued.

Briefing the media, deputy commissioner of police (Shamshabad) PV Padmaja said based on the confession of arrested Manga, Gangadhar Reddy, C Srinivas, T Shirisha Reddy, Sharada, and K Lakshmi were arrested from different areas in the city. During interrogation of Gangadhar, police came to know that he was a repeat offender and he was arrested earlier by Madannapet, Gandhinagar and Chatrinaka police for trafficking infants.

The prime accused, who had previously worked in a few fertility centers, used to interact with women going for IVF and surrogacy procedures. After quitting his job, Gangadhar became an agent and used to sell infants to issueless couples by procuring new-borns from poor families or those having many children or tribals. Till now, Gangadhar reportedly dealt with 12 infants. He claimed in six cases the adoption process was legal. “Three infants were rescued by Hyderabad police in the past, while now RGI Airport police rescued two infants. We are making efforts to rescue the third infant too,’’ Padmaja said.

Police said other five culprits used to search for parents willing to sell their infants or prospective buyers. Efforts are on to trace parents of rescued infants, who would be handed over to them only after DNA profiling.

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