Mysuru police uncover adoption racket
MYSURU: District cops have uncovered an illegal adoption racket by cracking three cases in less than two months.
A 60-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter were arrested for trafficking two newborns and selling the infants to childless couples in Hassan and Kollegal, while another case is being investigated in HD Kote. The mother-daughter duo had collected Rs 7.5 lakh from the couples adopting unlawfully.
Superintendent of police R Chethan on Wednesday said he suspected there could be more cases of illegal adoptions. “As of now two cases have been unearthed from the mother and daughter. Teams have been formed to dig deep into the illegal racket,” he said.
As of now, cops have not found any similarities in the two cases in Nanjangud. Srimathi aka Saraswathi and her daughter Lakshmi allegedly contacted financially poor new mothers and childless couples, and worked as mediators between them to make money. We suspect the involvement of a staff of a private hospital in Mysuru where both the babies were delivered, the SP added.
Srimathi has allegedly collected Rs 4 lakh from a Hassan couple to give them a baby boy while Rs 3.5 lakh was collected from Kollegal couple for a baby girl. The money has been seized from Srimathi. Mothers may not have been aware of money transactions by Srimathi, the SP stated. Srimathi, a resident of Nanjangud, rents autos and does odd jobs for a living, police said.
The case came to light after an alert anganawadi worker Shashikala tipped-off child welfare authorities about the missing baby. Jyothi, the baby’s mother could not give convincing replies about the missing baby, the anganwadi worker told officials.
This led to the discovery of another illegal adoption arranged by Manjula, also from Nanjangud.
The two cases came to light close on heels of HD Kote case in which a couple adopted a baby boy from a Hassan mother without following government guidelines. All the children are now in the custody of the government at care centres in Mysuru and Mandya.
In Nanjangud and HD Kote, police have appealed to the public to share information about the activities of the mother-daughter duo .
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