When Hyderabad police busted a child trafficking racket in February 2025, Bodasu Nagaraju was a minor accused, primarily playing a courier's role. He had only recently entered the trade after working as a brick kiln operator in Adilabad for years, had not yet acquired the 'Murugan' alias — the name Gujarat police identified him by when they recently arrested him as the key accused in a fresh case — and was known as a low-level associate of then gang leader Kola Krishnaveni.
While the group was booked for selling 25 children for Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh each across the two Telugu states, Nagaraju was involved in only three cases, where he either took delivery of a baby from a supplier or handed the child over to a buyer in exchange for a pre-decided fee. He had no role in fixing these deals.
"It was another accused, Soma Amulya — also arrested in the Gujarat crackdown — who mediated between suppliers and buyers and even negotiated the price. Nagaraju was just a collection agent, largely operating within Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," said a police officer familiar with the case.
This changed for the 31-year-old after he came out on bail in the 2025 case, having spent barely 90 days in jail. Within a span of a year, Nagaraju went from being an intermediary to the kingpin of the illegal trade. He revived his network of prospective buyers, connected with suppliers across multiple states, and began operating independently without middlemen. Post his release, police say Nagaraju and his team trafficked eight babies — two each from Gujarat and Maharashtra, three from Telangana, and one from Delhi. Police are yet to ascertain where these children were sold.
"About 50 people were arrested in 2025, including traffickers and customers (childless couples). When Nagaraju secured bail in June, other gang leaders like Krishnaveni and Deepti were inactive as they were under police watch. He realised the gang had disintegrated and used the situation to his advantage," said a police official, adding that within a year he expanded his network across India.
"Lately, Nagaraju has been trafficking and selling one to two children every month," said Prashant Sumbe, Superintendent of Police, Banaskantha (Gujarat). "We have secured 10 days' police remand. Our team is trying to gather details about those who supplied children to his gang and those who purchased them. Once we identify the buyers, we will try to rescue the children," he added.
Given that some associates arrested in the recent case like Amulya were also part of the 2025 racket, police are now probing the role of all previous gang members. "Apart from those arrested now, we are tracking the activities of traffickers involved in last year's case," said an official from Malkajgiri police, part of the team that made the arrests in Gujarat.
