Rachakonda police bust inter-state child-trafficking gang, 11 rescued

Hyderabad: In a major crackdown, the Medipally Police, under the Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, busted an inter-State child-selling gang, rescued 11 babies and arrested 11 persons on Tuesday. The arrested include eight women who had bought children from three accused from Delhi and Pune.

The arrested persons were: Shobharani, Swapna, Shaik Saleem, Bandari Hari Hara Chethan, Bandari Padma, Balgam Saroja, Mudavath Sharadha, Mudavath Raju, Pathan Mumtaz, Jaganadam Anuradha and Yata Mamatha. Three other accused are absconding. All the arrested are residents of Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Tarun Joshi said the accused sold children to issueless couples. The rescued children are aged between one month and two-and-a-half months. Nine are girls and two are boys.

The police said the accused used to get babies from Kiran and Preethi of Delhi and Kannaiah of Pune. The trio supplied nearly 50 babies to the arrested. The agents of the accused sold babies to persons who are in need of babies in AP and Telangana for a price ranging from Rs 1.8 lakh to Rs 5.5 lakh per baby aided by mediators.

The racket came to light after the police launched an investigation following the arrest of Shobharani, a registered medical practitioner (RMP), on May 22 for selling a child for Rs 4.5 lakh.

The police commissioner said Swapna and Shaik Saleem, who were helping Shobharani, were also arrested and two babies were rescued from them.

The accused were booked under Sections 370, 372,373 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 81,87 and 88 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015. On interrogation, Shobharani revealed that she was working in coordination with Hari Hara Chetan, who was selling the babies. Their interrogation revealed that the babies were being supplied to them by three persons from Delhi and Pune for Rs 50,000 each. Kiran, Preethi, Kannaiah and other accused are absconding. The commissioner said further investigations are on.