7 arrested for selling newborn baby

Hyderabad: Seven persons, including a registered medical practitioner and three women, were arrested on charges of selling a newborn baby girl.

Police identified those arrested as registered medical practitioner N Shankar, his assistant N Srinivas, mediator Shanta, parents of the baby girl K Vanitha and K Jawaharlal and the couple that purchased the girl E Varalakshmi and E Ravi.

Police said Shankar was a well-established medical practitioner having widespread contacts in the tribal villages around Ibrahimpatnam. Most of the villagers visit the Telangana Multi-Specialty Hospital run by him.

In the process, Vanitha and her auto-rickshaw driver husband Jawaharlal used to visit the hospital for periodical check-up ever since she became pregnant. Police sources said Shankar disclosed the sex of the baby though it is illegal and suggested to Jawaharlal that it would be difficult to raise the girl child since he already has two daughters.

The RMP and his assistant brainwashed Vanitha and persuaded her into sell the baby for money even before she delivered, a police official said. Ones the parents agreed to sell their baby, the RMP called the mediator Shanta and asked her to find a buyer.

The mediator approached the couple Varalakshmi and Ravi since they were childless. The couple happily agreed to buy the baby girl and the deal was finalised for Rs 35,000. Soon after Vanitha gave birth to a baby girl on November 28, the baby was handed over to Varalakshmi, who works as a staff nurse, police said.

The biological parents of the baby girl got Rs 10,000 while the RMP, his assistant and the mediator shared the remaining money among them, police said. The episode was kept a guarded secret. But the police acted on a tip-off and arrested seven persons.