Namakkul trafficking case: Babies bought for Rs 30,000 sold or Rs 3 lakh

NAMAKKAL: The couples involved in the Namakkal (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Namakkal) child trafficking case

who sold their babies to middlemen mainly to tide over financial difficulties benefited little from the deal as they got meagre

payments for the same.

Namakkal district (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Namakkal-district) superintendent of police R Arularasu told TOI that

none of the parents received even Rs 1 lakh from the brokers. “They were paid between Rs 30,000 and Rs 95,000,” he said

adding that only one of the couples in Kolli Hills received Rs 95,000 from nursing assistant R Amuthavalli while the brokers got

huge sums. It has also come to light that a baby bought from Salem for Rs 40,000 was sold for Rs 3 lakh.

The SP said that a total of 11 newborn babies had been illegally sold through Amuthavalli and her husband Ravichandran. “She was the main broker of the gang who handed over the babies to various sub-brokers across the state,” he said. “They used to take money from those who undergo artificial insemination treatments such as IVF, IUI and ICSI,” the SP said, adding that the brokers got commission ranging between Rs 12,000 and Rs 20,000 from the fertility centres. The trio arrested on Saturday approached widows, destitute women and poor women to ‘secure’ their ovum and womb for infertility centres. “They also got a commission of up to Rs 7,000 per person from the centres,” the SP said.

When they sell a baby, the seller and buyer sign before notary advocate C Venkatachalam at Chinna Mudalaipatty with the

support of Namakkal-based advocate Lokesh. “The notary advocate issued a document certifying as ‘child adoption deed’ which he asked the buyer and seller to show as proof during police inquiry and also in court,” the SP said. Ambulance driver Murugesan who was working at Senkarai Pavarkadu, a hamlet atop Kolli Hills, collected six babies from scheduled tribe (ST) couples after they expressed their willingness to sell their babies. Being an ambulance driver, he was very much aware of the women who were pregnant. He would approach them after the mother gave birth to the baby. “He will give a meagre amount to the original mother of the child and hand over the baby to Amuthavalli,” the SP said adding that she collected huge money from the buyers. All the sold newborn babies were aged between one day and one month while a few of the babies would now have turned three years old.

It has come to light that Amuthavalli had sold a baby girl bought from Omalur (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Omalur)

in Salem district at Kumarapalayam in Namakkal district. “The deal was legal as the adoption was registered with the registrar

office,” officials said. Based on the information given by Amuthavalli, a team of officials led by Rasipuram

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Rasipuram) division DSP R Vijayaraghavan went to Omalur in Salem district and quizzed Sivan-Parvathi (names changed) about the baby trade. “The couple said that they already had three daughters and wished to sell the fourth one which was also a girl,” said an official who was part of the team. The couple were coolies and did not have enough money to bring up all the four girls.

So they approached Amuthavalli through a person one year ago who collected the baby for Rs 40,000 from Sivan-Parvathi and

sold it to a couple in Kumarapalayam. “They did not have an option medically to deliver a baby and bought the baby for Rs 3

lakh,” he said. The parents had an agreement and registered the adoption at the sub-registrar office in Omalur. “Having that agreement as the

document, we can consider the adoption as legal,” the official added.

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