Child trafficking racket busted in Delhi, 8 arrested

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has busted a syndicate of child traffickers and arrested eight people, including six women and rescued a 7.5-year-old child, said an official on Friday. According to DCP South, the accused have been identified as Neetu, Sonia, Vineet and Meena, all residents of Delhi; Rekha Aggarwal and Moni Begum, residents of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, and Pinku Devi and Digvijay Singh, residents of Haryana.

A case was registered on May 12, on the complaint of a counsellor of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). In her complaint, she mentioned that on May 11, she received information that the caller sold out her three-day-old baby through her friend, police said. Accordingly, a case was registered and an investigation was taken up.

During the investigation, with the help of technical surveillance, the role of Neetu and her associates surfaced. During the course of the investigation factum of birth of a child was also verified. Verification revealed that Neetu in October last year gave birth to a baby boy at Madan Mohan Malviya Nagar Hospital, Malviya Nagar. Sonia got Neetu discharged from there on October 27 and took her to her residence at Sangam Vihar. The next day, through Meena, she sold her baby (handed over custody) at a nursing home (IVF centre), Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad for a consideration of Rs 5 lakh, the officer said.

Accused Vineet took co-accused Neetu, Sonia and baby, to Nehru Nagar in Gaziabad through Aanand Parbat. During the course of the investigation, accused persons were arrested. On June 7, the victim's child was recovered from accused couple Digvijay Singh and Pinku Devi from their residence. The child is safe and healthy, the officer said.

Interrogation revealed that accused Rekha Aggarwal had worked in various hospitals and IVF centres as a counsellor and after obtaining data on failed cases of IVF, she used to call the couples and arranged baby boys for them. Further, accused Moni Begum used to be an egg donor in various IVF Centres in NCR. These two accused persons were previously arrested by the police in a case dated April 1 under sections 363, 370 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 81 JJ Act at Prem Nagar police station in Delhi.

Further interrogation from the couple accused Digvijay Singh and Pinku Devi, it is revealed that they lost their 17-year-old son on February 5, 2019, in a road accident and also failed an effort of IVF. Further investigation is underway.