Child trafficking racket busted; six held

Accused supplied boys to couples without children, with daughters but no sons

The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has busted a racket that allegedly supplied boys to couples without children, and to those who had several daughters but no sons.

According to Crime Branch officials, the lid was blown off the racket after police inspector Chandrakant Dalvi from the Crime Branch Unit VI received a tip-off earlier this year. He learnt that a family from Mankhurd had recently sold their newborn son to the gang. A team of Unit VI personnel then worked on the information for nearly two months before picking up Bhagyashree Koli, who runs a surrogacy centre in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs.

Babies for sale

A Crime Branch officer said, “Our information indicated that Ms. Koli had facilitated the sale of a six-day-old boy to a couple in Bhiwandi who had no sons. We questioned her and she ultimately confessed that she had sold one such boy in March.”

According to Ms. Koli’s confession, the couple had their third daughter in March at a hospital in Thane. They were distressed over having no sons and expressed their anguish to a nurse at the hospital. The nurse put them in touch with Ms. Koli’s accomplice, Lalita Joseph, who met them and assured to get them a boy. The officer said, “The duo tracked down a woman in Mankhurd who had given birth to a boy on March 1. A deal for ?3.85 lakh was fixed. On paying the price, the boy was handed over to the couple from Bhiwandi on March 6. The boy’s real mother was paid ?2 lakh.

Based on Ms. Koli’s interrogation, the police went on to pick up Ms. Joseph and two other accomplices: Sunanda Masane and Savita Salukhe. They were arrested last week and their interrogation revealed that they had conducted a similar transaction three years ago.

The officer said, “Inquiries indicated that they had sold a boy to a woman from Kalyan who did not have a child after several years of marriage. The boy is now three years old, and we have traced him as well the boy sold in March. Both the boys have been placed in a children’s home under the Child Welfare Commission’s care.”

Buyers arrested

The officer said the woman who bought the older boy and the man who paid for the younger child have also been placed under arrest. All the accused have been charged with trafficking under the Indian Penal Code along with relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act. They have been remanded in police custody till July 4.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection I) Akbar Pathan said, “The accused are suspected to have committed several more crimes of a similar nature and we urge anyone with information regarding this to contact the Unit VI at 022-25205322.”

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