Mumbai: Girl, 17, left with one child in hand, looking for another

Arrested accused Mahendra Sutar, who was 23 when he began dating the minor (right) Vidya Jadhav, Nalasopara-based social activist. Pics/Hanif Patel

More than a dozen people, including a tantric, doctor, lab technician, social activist and school principal, have been booked in a POCSO case where a 15-year-old girl was impregnated by her boyfriend in 2022. The accused allegedly conspired and sold the infant for Rs 4 lakh within 24 hours of the delivery.

A team of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police is investigating the case. The father of the baby, Mahendra Sutar, was arrested by the Achole police on Tuesday. Nalasopara-based social activist Vidya Jadhav told mid-day, "Though the survivor was too feeble to protest at the time. When she asked why strangers were taking custody of the child against her wishes, she was told by the accused that her toddler would be returned after she became an adult. But nothing happened as such."

Dr Kalpana Warang in whose hospital the sonography was done; (right) Dr Warang's assistant Riya Thakur

"Two years down the line, she was engaged to be married to a young man. However, she got pregnant for the second time, before tying the knot and her would-be in-laws refused to go ahead with the ceremony. At the age of 17, the survivor became the mother of two children with two different men. Though her second child with her, the first is yet to be found," said Jadhav, who has been assisting the survivor.

First pregnancy

"The survivor started dating Sutar in 2022 when he was 23 years old and she was only 15. She told me that it became evident that Sutar had impregnated her a few months into the relationship," added Jadhav.

"Disturbed on learning about the situation, her parents got in touch with a baba, Santosh Jha alias Mama, who took them to Sangeeta Thorat, who runs a school in Nalasopara and is also a local member of the police dakshta committee. After listening to the parents, Thorat called Sutar and talked to him in a room on the premises of her school," she added.

Harish Bhosale and (right) Gaurav Gohil, who were roped in by Thorat

"Later, Thorat told the survivor and her parents it was not possible for the girl to marry Sutar as he belonged to another community. Thorat then roped in two men - Gaurav Gohil and Harish Bhosale - to consult one Dr Kalpana Warang at RK Hospital where a sonography was conducted and they learnt that abortion was not feasible as the teenager was in her seventh month of pregnancy," said the activist.

Jadhav was further told by the survivor that she was asked to sign a few documents by Thorat and her gang members, including her assistant Riya Thakur. "But the survivor could not understand what documents she had signed as they were in Marathi," she said.

The alleged child-snatcher

After a few weeks, the survivor delivered a baby girl at Warang's RK Hospital on September 24, 2022 in Nalasopara where Gohil and Bhosale were asked by Thorat to introduce a new character, Nisha Jagtap, to the survivor.

Santosh Jha alias Mama, whom the family got in touch with after learning of the pregnancy; (right) Afreen Shaikh, social activist

According to the FIR, Jagtap walked into the hospital on September 25 and took her baby girl. "At the time when her baby was being taken away, the survivor tried to resist at the hospital. But a lab assistant at the hospital, Dipali Parmar, told the survivor that she did not want any chaos on the hospital premises and she allowed Jagtap to carry the infant away," activist said. "Parmar allegedly told the survivor that the child would be returned to her when she was no longer a minor," she added.

Revelation about payoff

Six months down the line, the survivor happened to come across Sutar on Instagram. When she asked him why he did not agree to marry her despite knowing that she was pregnant, Sutar replied that had been told to cough up Rs 4 lakh and stay away from her. "Sutar said that he transferred Rs 4 lakh to Riya Thakur's friend's bank account," Jadhav said.

The survivor apparently asked her parents about the whereabouts of her baby, but the latter failed to give a valid response. Later, the survivor's parents planned to marry her off. The engagement took place late last year and the duo started to meet frequently and had physical relations. During this period, the survivor conceived.

Sangeeta Thorat, accused who runs a school in Nalasopara

The survivor's would-be in-laws did not have any issue as the engagement had happened and the couple were to tie the knot. But trouble began when her fiancé, Rahil Khan, learnt that she was already a mother and her parents - in connivance with Thorat and her gang members - had allegedly sold her child.

"The survivor was abandoned by her fiancé and his family. Even her own brother and parents disowned her, telling her to leave the house. The visibly pregnant 17-year-old had been roaming around Nalasopara before an auto-rickshaw driver took her to Amravati and got her admitted to a hospital where she delivered a baby boy in March," said an officer attached to the MBVV police.

Out on the streets

Ten days after her delivery, the survivor's parents called her and asked her to return home. "When she got back, she was asked by her brother to vacate the place. She was on the road again. She contacted me on April 9 at 10 pm. I immediately jumped into her rescue and brought her home where she narrated her ordeal to me," said Jadhav.

Police action

Jadhav, with the help of another social activist, Afreen Shaikh, approached the Achole police station where the cops registered an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the POCSO Act against Sutar, Khan, the survivor's parents, Thorat, Jagtap, Jha, Thakur, Bhosale, Gohil, Dr Kalpana Warang, Parmar, Thakur's friend, an advocate, one Ankush Navale and others.

Pournima Chougule-Shringi, the zonal deputy commissioner of police, said, "It is a very sensitive case and we are handling it w ith extra care. Our teams are working on it rigorously and we won't spare any accused." "We have already arrested one person in connection with this case. Our investigations are underway," she told mid-day.

April 9
Day survivor contacted Vidya Jadhav

2022
Year survivor delivered first child