The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Seven held as CBI busts child trafficking racket; two infants rescued
THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested seven people in Delhi and Haryana for allegedly running a child trafficking racket that sold infants to childless couples through social media ads on Facebook and Whatsapp. The agency also rescued two newborns during the operation.
According to officials, their probe has revealed that the accused allegedly purchased the babies from their parents and surrogate mothers and sold the children at prices ranging from Rs 4 to Rs 6 lakh per child.
“Based on an input, the CBI on Friday evening started a search operation at seven locations in Delhi and Haryana during which two infants— 1.5 days old and 15 days old — whom the gang was planning to sell were found by the agency sleuths. The CBI nabbed seven members of the gang who were later arrested by the agency,” a CBI spokesperson said.
“The arrested people are Neeraj of Sonipat and Indu Pawar of Delhi’s Paschim Vihar, Aslam of Patel Nagar, Pooja Kashyap of Kanhaiya Nagar, Anjali of Malviya Nagar, along
Officials said the accused person used to sell infants to childless couples through social media ads on Facebook and Whatsapp
with Kavita and Ritu. The gang allegedly contacted childless couples desirous of adopting babies through advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook pages and Whatsapp groups,” the spokesperson said.
“... These accused are also allegedly involved in duping many childless couples of lakhs of rupees by creating fake documents related to adoption,” the spokesperson added.
During their searches, the CBI seized Rs 5.5 lakh in cash and other documents.
“The agency has booked 10 people, including the arrested accused, under various penal provisions of the IPC and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 on allegations that a network of infant children traffickers are involved in buying and selling of infants across India for the purpose of adoption as well as for other illegal purposes,” the spokesperson said.