Delhi Police busts interstate infant adoption racket, arrests 6

By Ravi Jalhotra
New Delhi [India], December 26 : Delhi Police crime branch has busted an inter-state infant adoption racket involved in kidnapping, trafficking of newborn babies and also purchasing infants from biological parents or poor parents in exchange for money and selling newborns to childless couples for adoption for a hefty sum of money. The police have arrested six women of the gang while the kingpin is still at large, said the Delhi Police.
The gang is involved in selling more than 50 newborn babies for a huge amount of money. It had developed a unique modus operandi, they would identify a pregnant woman belonging to the poor class and strike a deal with the married couple and as soon as the child was born, it was taken away from the parents and the gang members used to keep the child in their custody. They would simultaneously identify several possible buyers and circulate the child's photograph among all touts through social media and subsequently sell the child to one who agreed to buy the child.
Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested six members of a gang that was involved in the purchase and sale of newborn babies. The identity of 10 such babies have been established and two babies have been rescued.
"The gang would purchase newborns from poor families & sell them to the rich. They would buy a baby for Rs 1-Rs 2 lakhs and sell them for Rs 3 lakhs-Rs 4 lakhs. Shockingly, they successfully convinced both buyers and sellers that it was legal," Crime Branch DCP Rajesh Deo said.
Speaking to ANI, DCP crime branch Rajesh Deo said that the matter came to light when information was received on December 17 that a gang involved in kidnapping and trafficking of newborn babies, is active and some members of the gang would come near Shamshan Ghat, Gandhi Nagar, at about 03:30 pm to sell a newborn baby.
"As many as three members of the gang were apprehended from the spot and were identified as Priya Jain, Priya and Kajal. They had brought a newly born baby (boy) aged around 7-8 days and had offered to sell the child. During interrogation, they disclosed that they had come to sell the baby boy to earn quick money and the boy had been arranged by one Priyanka, who is the elder sister of Priya," he added.
The gang members were arrested in connection with the case registered on December 17. On the next day, two more members of the gang were arrested and one more baby girl was recovered from their possession.
During the interrogation of the accused persons, "it was revealed that they all belong to poor strata and initially few of them came in contact with the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) centre and started donating their 'eggs' to be used in the IVF process and in lieu of the same were paid Rs 20,000 to 25,000. In this process, they came in contact with several couples who had no children of their own and were desirous of having a baby but could not get one even through the IVF process,"DCP crime branch Rajesh Deo said.
The DCP said the accused Kajal got a small commission in exchange for taking the women to the IVF centre for egg donation.
"In this process, she created a large network of people, who were ready to donate their eggs. Later, she started convincing them to sell their child due to stark poverty and several urgent requirements, the poor hapless parents fell to her words and started selling their child," Deo informed.
The gang members also convinced the seller and the buyers that this was not illegal.
The police official further informed that there were cases in which the gang members also got made notarized documents in which the seller would claim to have legally adopted the child, while in reality the child was purchased from anything between Rs 2 to 3 lakh and the arrested accused would get a hefty commission.
"Kajal and Priyanka are the masterminds of the gang. It is also learnt that the network of these accused persons is spread in other states also. All the accused persons are in police custody remand except Priyanka who is absconding. Efforts are being made to arrest the remaining accused persons and bust the entire chain involved in the trafficking of infant babies," he said.
Two new-born babies have been recovered whereas identities of 10 babies sold by the accused persons have been established.