In a shocking revelation, a child trafficking gang operating in Hyderabad and other states has been charging Rs 3.20 lakh for a newborn boy and Rs 2.5 lakh for a girl. The gang's agents would approach sobbing women outside IVF centres who had just learned they could not conceive, asking them whether they would prefer to raise a boy or a girl.
Arrests and Modus Operandi
Banaskantha police arrested two women, identified as Rani and Shivarani, from Secunderabad on Sunday in connection with the trafficking racket. The mastermind behind the syndicate is Bodasu Nagaraju alias Murugan. With these arrests, the total number of detentions since April 6 has reached 10, including Murugan.
According to Digvijaysinh Rathod, inspector of Banaskantha local crime branch (LCB), Rani and Shivarani worked with Murugan and his wife at a leading IVF clinic in Hyderabad. Initially, they earned between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for bringing women for treatment. However, they soon realized that selling newborns could fetch them ten times more money.
Rathod told the Times of India, "Rani and Shivarani would approach women who were unable to conceive naturally, offering a newborn boy for Rs 3.20 lakh and a girl for Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 2.8 lakh." Once the childless couple agreed, the deal was finalized, and the agents made at least Rs 50,000 per child.
Background of the Accused
Rani, a widow, reportedly turned to child trafficking to pay for her mother's medical expenses, police said. The babies were often trafficked within 24 to 48 hours of birth from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, and other states.
Police have also summoned representatives of Nova IVF, where the accused were working as agents, said Rathod.
Further Investigations
Based on the interrogation of seven people arrested earlier, the LCB tracked both women to West Marredpally in Secunderabad and nabbed them. Police also arrested Dinesh Rathod, a native of Danta, who had sold his five-day-old girl to the gang for Rs 2.80 lakh. A separate offence was registered for that and for a similar offence in Amirgadh.
Police said the syndicate was well established in Hyderabad and Telangana's Sirpur-Kagaznagar region, where agents identified buyers and facilitated illegal adoptions.
