Gang of 12 sold over 100 infants in seven years: Gurugram cops

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A day after three persons were arrested for allegedly stealing, buying and selling newborns, the Gurugram police on Sunday arrested two more members of the infant trafficking gang from Delhi. Police said that the gang of at least 12 members, which mainly operated from Delhi and Rajasthan, sold around 100 infants over the past seven years.

The suspects, who were arrested on Sunday, were identified as Veena and Pooja, police said, adding that the gang sold babies aged anywhere between 10 days and two months.

According to police, the gang used to target pregnant women from the economically weaker section and convince them to sell their children. After buying newborns for an amount ranging between 50,000 and 1 lakh, the gang members would sell them to issueless couples in different states for a hefty price up to 7 lakh, police said.

The Gurugram police have, so far, rescued two infants and arrested five members of the gang.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said the gang has admitted that they have sold over 100 children in the past seven years in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

“We are trying to trace the parents of the stolen infants and also checking cases of missing or stolen infants in these years. The gang members have revealed that a few biological parents who were unable to raise their children due to financial crisis sold babies to them,” he said.

The gang members would identify those couples who were in need of children and those who were ready to sell them, Sangwan said, adding that in some cases they also stole newborn babies from hospitals and later sold them.

“The gang has also sold infants with the consent of the parents, but it is illegal. We will book the biological parents as well as the parents who bought the kids. Raids are being conducted in Delhi and Rajasthan’s Alwar to arrest other members of the gang,” Sangwan said.

During questioning, the gang members have revealed that in some cases, they promised issueless couples to get babies at a cheaper cost through surrogacy and collect sperm and later contact them with fake certificate after a year with a baby, police said, adding that they also used to get fake medical records of a surrogate mother.

Sangwan said they are investigating if any medical staff or a doctor was also involved in the case. As the surrogacy procedure costs somewhere between 15-20 lakh, many childless couples were lured by the gang’s offer, he said.

The incident had come to the fore on Friday night after a taxi driver drove three persons, including two women, travelling in his vehicle with two stolen female infants to DLF Phase 3 police station, and helped police bust the interstate child trafficking gang.

The stolen infants were handed over to the Child Welfare Committee and efforts are on to trace their parents, police said.


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