A special team of the Ambattur police busted a gang who sold a baby to a couple in Ambattur for Rs. 1.40 lakh after luring the infant’s parents with money. Police are investigating whether the culprits are part of a child-trafficking racket.
According to sources with the special team, the crime came to light last Friday when Muthu (52), a shop owner in Pudur, spotted two women having a heated argument over money and a baby. Growing suspicious over the confrontation, Muthu alerted the police.
The women identified as Chitra (28) of Jnanamoorthy Nagar in Ambattur and Suguna Saraswathy (70) of Tiruvallur, when questioned by Ambattur police, revealed that Chitra had given a 25-day-old boy to Suguna for a sum of Rs. 1.40 lakh on March 17, 2012.
“A few months ago, Chitra and Suguna used to live in the same locality and the elder woman had lamented to Chitra that her son, married for the last ten years didn’t have a child. Thereafter, Chitra sold the baby stating that it was her relative’s son,” said M. Saravanan, inspector of police, Ambattur Estate.
As the infant was underweight and had health problems, Suguna handed him over to Chitra within a few days and asked for the money. Chitra promised to return the money after giving the child back to his parents, but failed to do so. The infant then died within a few days. The women had accidently met on Friday, the officer added.
The special team probed the matter and detained Kumar (44) from Thevattipatti in Salem who works as a security guard at Government Hospital in Salem. The suspect Chitra had contacted her friend Sheeba Rajakumari (32), a private hospital nurse in Salem, for buying the baby. Sheeba in turn got in touch with Palanivel (42), a conservancy worker at Salem GH, who along with Kumar lured the couple Palanichami and Gomati of Thevattipatti, and purchased one of their twin boys for Rs. 25,000.
The other boy had a heart problem and the couple were in need of cash for treatment. Therefore, they decided to sell one child to Kumar.
The infant was handed over to Chitra by Sheeba’s accomplice Pugaladevi (48) and the five suspects split the money between them, sources added.
Chitra, Sheeba, Pugaladevi, Kumar and Palanivel were arrested on Wednesday and remanded to judicial custody. Further investigations are under way on whether Chitra abandoned the body of the infant or handed it over to the boy’s parents. As she was tight-lipped during the probe, police plan to seek custody of Chitra and her accomplices for further questioning.
via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3808661.ece
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