Mumbai: Mankhurd police recover four more babies sold in racket

Police with those arrested in the baby-selling racket. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

The Mankhurd police have recovered four more babies that were sold in a baby-selling racket, busted on December 12. They have so far arrested six people, including five women in the case.

Six arrested
Till date, six accused, identified as Yogita Sale (21), Asha Thakur (36), Nurjahan Mulla (40), Prabhavati Naik (48), Ganesh Sale (Yogita's husband) and Mala Wankhede have been arrested by the police.

Read Story: Yet another baby-selling racket busted by Mumbai police, four women held

mid-day had reported the arrest of four of these women (‘Yet another baby-selling racket busted by Mumbai police, four women held,' December 13). All the accused are in police custody.

Efforts on
"The group sold around eight babies to childless couples across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Karnataka, of which five have been recovered. Efforts are on to trace the remaining babies," said a police official from Mankhurd police station. On December 5, Mohammad Arif Khan filed a complaint with Mankhurd police station that his one and half-year-old son Ahmad Jafar Khan was missing after which police registered a kidnapping case against unknown persons. Ahmad was recently recovered from a couple in Goa.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone VI, Shahaji Umap said, "After we recovered the first baby that was sold to a Goa couple for '2.5 lakh, we came to know that the accused has sold several other infants in a similar way. Several teams were formed and we succeeded in recovering four more babies from them."

Street kids targeted
He further added, "The group used to steal babies in the age group of 10 months to two years from Ulhas Nagar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan and the recent case was from Mankhurd. They targeted street kids who are easy to steal. The kids were sold for anything between '50,000 and '2.5 lakh depending on the urgency and financial status of the couple opting to buy them."