One of the accused had approached a Gujarat-based NGO to sell an eight-month-old baby girl, following which four of them were nabbed
Accused Anita Bane and (at the back) Manju Mandal
The Virar police busted a baby-selling racket and arrested four people in the matter on Wednesday. As part of the modus operandi, a doctor who runs a clinic in Nalasopara had convinced a couple to sell one of their babies for Rs 2.5 lakh, following which he asked an agent to look for a customer. The agent had approached a Gujarat-based NGO, after which the police with the help of the owner caught them red-handed trying to sell an eight-month-old baby girl and arrested them.
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Accused Dr Pipla alias Bipin
The arrested accused have been identified as Dr Pipla alias Bipin, Agent Anita Bane, 45, who runs an estate agency and the couple Ghorwari alias Manju Mandal, 35, and husband Sonjit Mandal, 40, all residents of Nalasopara and Virar.
According to the police, Ghorwari’s sister died a couple of months back and left behind her eight-month-old girl. Ghorwari has been taking care of the baby along with her four kids.
Few months ago Ghorwari with her husband Sonjit went for a check-up to Dr Bipin’s clinic, when the latter gave them an offer to sell the baby for R2.5 lakh. That is when they decided to give away
Ghorwari’s sister’s girl.
Thereafter, the doctor asked Anita to look for a customer, when she approached a Gujarat based NGO Ashapura Maa Foundation Charitable trust run by Manjuben Karia.
Speaking to mid-day, Manjuben said, “Anita said she wanted to sell an eight-month-old baby girl for R2.5 lakh. She also told me about the doctor who was ready to give R2,5 lakh to the couple for the baby and said that she would give it to me if I paid her R3 lakh. I immediately informed the Virar police and met assistant police inspector Abhijeet Tailor regarding it.”
“The accused couple was called at a place in Virar with the baby on Wednesday night, from where they were arrested,” Karia explained.
A police officer said, “We received information from the NGO, following which we trapped the accused and arrested them. We have also nabbed the accused doctor and agent. We suspect that they were involved in a baby-selling racket. We are investigating the matter further. The accused have been arrested under sections 379(1) of Child Protection Act and 78 and 81 of IPC. All the accused were produced in court and remanded in police custody.”
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