Mother delivered twins, knew only about stillborn: Probe

ACCUSED PUNJAB POLICE CONSTABLE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED AND A DEPARTMENTAL INQUIRY INITIATED AGAINST HIM

CHANDIGARH: The child traffickers’ gang busted by the Chandigarh Police on Tuesday targeted expectant mothers belonging to poor families in Punjab, especially those carrying twins.

Investigations point out that the mother of the rescued 2-dayold boy had delivered twins in Dhuri and one of them survived. However the family was told only about the stillborn. The accused brought the other boy to Chandigarh with the intention to sell him off for ₹4 lakh to a city-based businessman.

SIT CONSTITUTED

A special investigating team (SIT) headed by DSP (South) Neha

Yadav was formed to investigate the case. Police on Tuesday had arrested five people, including two Asha workers and a police constable. Punjab police constable Amarjit Singh (29) was deployed as driver of the Balongi station house officer. He has been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been ordered.

The investigations so far pointed out that the accused would try to convince the poor families to sell off newborns. The accused Asha workers would keep the family in the dark about delivery of twins and steal one of the newborns, probe says. “We are probing the role of involvement of doctors as the mother was not informed that she is carrying twins,” said a source in the police not willing to be named.

“So far we have only recovered two children – a two-day-old boy and an 11-day-old girl. The family of the male child has been traced and we will get their statements recorded,” said DSP Yadav.

The accused used to send pictures of newborns to the prospective buyers. Police have recovered pictures of newborns from the mobile phones of the accused. Police are now trying to trace the biological families as well as the those who bought these children.