Gang involved in sale of newborns busted in Punjab: Police

With the arrest of four persons, police today claimed to have busted a gang which was allegedly involved in the purchase and sale of newborn babies.

The gang members comprising three women and a man were arrested yesterday evening and and a five-day-old infant was recovered from them at Vardhman Chowk, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Narinder Bhargav told reporters.

Police had contacted them through a decoy buyer to purchase a newborn. The accused had assured the buyer that they will bring a newborn to him in the near future, the DCP said.

During preliminary investigation, the accused claimed that the male baby had been purchased at a price of Rs 2.30 lakh from a poor woman belonging to Arnia village in Fazilka district, Bhargav said.
 

The gang used to be in touch with community health workers and registered medical practitioners (RMP) in villages and colonies of migrants from other states to locate needy and poor pregnant women who could not afford a child.

They used to approach these women and strike a deal with them to purchase babies at Rs 2-3 lakh each, he said, noting the babies were later sold to rich couples at exorbitant prices.

They also told the police that they have already sold four newborns to different couples in the recent past, Bhargava said. They had been arrested by the Faridkot police in 2015 in connection with a similar case, he said.

The accused were identified as Tejvir Singh and his wife Rachpal Kaur (Moga), Baljinder Kaur alias Binder (Ludhiana) and Gurmeet Kaur (Faridkot), according to the DCP.