Baby-selling racket busted: Homeopathic doctor, wife sold newborns for Rs 2 lakh

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A homeopathic doctor and his wife were allegedly caught as being part of an illegal racket involved in the sale of newborn babies. The shocking incident came to light after a raid at the General Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Kolhapur's Ichalkaranji.

The official agency in charge of adoptions in the country, the Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARA), as well as, the District Women and Child Welfare Committee led the raid on Tuesday. According to police officials, the accused confessed to selling each baby for a sum of Rs 2 lakh.

The homeopathic doctor involved in the human trafficking racket has been identified as Arun Patil. Both Patil and his wife have been booked and will be interrogated by the police. A report in the Times of India quotes the district head of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Priyadarshini Chorage, as having said, "When we entered the hospital and asked Patil about the racket, he confessed. He claimed he was doing it in the interest of society and it was for free. He used to facilitate deliveries for unmarried women and would then sell the babies. He used to hand over the money received to the mother."

Patil's recent dealings include the sale of a four-day-old baby to a Chhattisgarh-based family, as well as, the illegal trafficking of a newborn to a couple in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, an officer of Mumbai's Shivaji Nagar police station is quoted in the TOI report as having added, "We have booked Patil, his wife Ujwalla and a couple who took the baby under several sections of Indian Penal Code, including 370, 317, 176 and sections 75, 80 and 81 of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015."

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