Namakkal baby sale racket: Ambulance driver nabbed, admits poverty-stricken parents were exploited

Acting on information by Amuthavalli, 50 and her husband Ravichandran, 55, the main culprits, police picked up Murugesan from Kollipalli, who confessed to selling six babies to the retired nurse. “He used to inform Amuthavalli about deliveries at the PHC in Kollimalai, after which she would contact the parents and buy their babies, taking advantage of their poverty,” said an officer.

A private hospital nurse, Parveen from Erode, was also taken into custody. She confessed to having bought two babies from Amuthavalli.

Birth certificate forgery probe: As Amuthavalli claimed to arrange for birth certificates, 15 special teams - each comprising a medical officer and two sanitary inspectors - under the supervision of Namakkal PHC, Deputy Director of Health Services G Ramesh Kumar have started scrutinising details of child births in eight private hospitals over the last two years in Rasipuram. Officials have also checked details of 980 babies born in Rasipuram GH in 2017. “In addition, 4,800 birth certificates were issued by the Rasipuram Municipality in two years. So we are checking for irregularities,” an official said. More on P7