Mumbai: Police bust racket involved in selling babies; six women held

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The Mumbai police busted a racket involved in selling babies and arrested six women for allegedly selling a newborn for Rs 5 lakh in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai, an official told news agency PTI on Tuesday.

The police had received a tip-off about a fake nursing home being operated in Trombay and that a baby was sold at the premises for Rs 5 lakh to a woman without providing any documents, the official told PTI.

The police laid a trap on Monday, nabbed two women and recovered a baby from their possession, the official told PTI.

The duo revealed that four other women, one of them a fake doctor, were involved in the racket, the official told PTI, adding that one of the accused had six cases to her name for committing similar crimes.

The women have been arrested under section 370 (trafficking of persons) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Maharashtra Medical Practitioner Act, the official told PTI.

In another case, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have registered a case against three persons who allegedly verbally abused a 27-year-old Buddhist monk on a suburban local train in Navi Mumbai, an official told PTI on Tuesday.

The Vashi GRP has registered a case under sections 294, (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), 506, (criminal intimidation), 393 (attempt to commit robbery) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the official told PTI.

The complainant was travelling towards Belapur on a local train around 7.30 pm on Sunday when the accused, who were under the influence of alcohol, verbally abused him and attempted to snatch his mobile phone, the official told PTI.

Meanwhile, a 33-year-old man wanted in a murder case in 2011 was nabbed by the police while investigating a theft in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police told PTI on Tuesday.

The police arrested Anuj Gangaram Chowgule on September 29 in connection with a theft reported in Virar, an official told PTI.

The accused allegedly stole a gold chain from a senior citizen in Virar on September 25, senior inspector Pramod Badakh of the Crime Unit-III Virar told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)