Kidnap of child near Mahim station leads police to racket

Three cases registered; five people arrested; two babies handed over to orphanages

Investigations into the abduction of an infant outside Mahim railway station in June have uncovered a racket of selling babies, with two more cases being registered with the Mumbra and Khandeshwar police. While the agents remain the same, the seller and purchaser are different in every case.

On June 26, a two-month-old baby, who was sleeping with his twin brother and parents on the pavement outside Mahim station, was stolen after midnight. Around 2 a.m., when the mother found the baby missing, the family approached the Government Railway Police in Dadar.

Senior inspector Prasad Pandhre and team found the baby and arrested kidnapper Shahbaz Shaikh (26). Since the case came under the jurisdiction of the Mahim police, the case was transferred to them along with the accused.

An officer from Mahim police station said, “On interrogation, Mr. Shaikh revealed that he was promised ?25,000 for providing a baby boy to one Raju and Sujata in Panvel. He was to meet them near Panvel railway station, but they did not turn up. So we nabbed them at their residence and later, they were arrested.”

Raju alias Dilshad Maksood Alam (35) is a resident of Kalwa and Sujata Mukund Potdar (37) stays in New Panvel. The Mahim police learnt that they had purchased a baby in Mumbra and sold to a childless couple from Panvel, and in another case, bought a baby in Govandi and sold to a couple from Pune.

“The accused also claimed to have sold a baby in Delhi and we are investigating that. The rates they charged were ?4 lakh for a boy and ?2.5 lakh for a girl, and till date, they had dealt only in cases of boy,” the officer said.

On the basis of the information that the Mahim police received, a case at Mumbra and Khandeshwar police stations was registered on July 19 and July 25 respectively. Ms. Potdar and Mr. Alam were handed over to the Mumbra police on July 25.

On interrogation, they revealed that Parveen Majeed Shaikh (50) and Mohammad Yaseen alias Arbaz Shahnavaz Shirgaonkar (22), both from Mumbra, had sold them and their accomplice, Sunita Sunil Jadhav (43), a two-day-old boy for ?1 lakh on March 31. Ms. Jadhav is still at large.

With the arrest of Mr. Shirgaonkar and Ms. Shaikh, the police learnt that the baby belonged to a 23-year-old unmarried woman from Mumbra, who sold her son for money. The infant was further sold to a childless couple from New Panvel for ?3,80,000.

The woman had undergone miscarriage thrice, hence the couple decided to adopt a baby for which they approached Ms. Jadhav from Panvel. “The couple could not produce any adoption deed and hence we arrested the man, Sunil Khopkar, an engineer. The child is now in an orphanage,” an officer from Mumbra police station said.

In the case with the Khandeshwar police, a couple based in Govandi sold a seven-day-old boy on December 1, 2018, to Ms. Potdar, who further sold the baby to a couple from Pune. The deal was sealed at the residence of the Pune-based couple’s relative in Panvel.

As per the FIR filed by Gorakh Satav, police sub inspector, Mahim police station, with the Khandeshwar police, the Pune couple had purchased the baby for ?3,20,000.

“The accused are in custody of the Mumbra police. We have procured the transfer order from court and will take them into our custody on August 2, following which the rest of the accused will be arrested. The baby has been handed over to an orphanage,” senior police inspector Yogesh More from Khandeshwar police station said.

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