Two nabbed for child trafficking

Raj Shekhar, TNN

NEW DELHI: The owner of a nursing home and a woman were arrested for trying to sell a two-month-old baby for Rs 3 lakh. The accused, Sumit Sharma (28), is a resident of northeast Delhi's GTB Enclave while the woman, Niharika (26), is from Chhatarpur, south Delhi. The crime branch arrested them from Loni in NCR. Niharika used to get Rs 40,000 for every deal, cops said.

Apart from trafficking infants, the duo also forged birth certificates of the babies, said a source. The accused told police that the kingpin of their gang, Deena Nath, is a public relation officer (PRO) in a hospital in Ghaziabad. While Deena Nath is still at large, raids are being carried out at Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to nab him. The accused duo have been taken on a four-day police remand, said police.

Ravindra Yadav, addl CP, crime branch, said that the special unit had received a tip-off that a gang involved in human trafficking was active. "On May 1, we got information that the gang was trying to sell a baby girl to a prospective buyer and a person would be coming to Jyoti Nagar area in northeast Delhi for the deal. A team, lead by inspector Sunil Kumar, along with members of NGO Shaktivahini, laid a trap. A decoy customer was sent to the accused. Just when he paid Rs 3 lakh to the accused duo and took cutody of the baby, the team nabbed them," Yadav said. The two were arrested and an FIR was registered under sections of kidnapping, wrongful confinement, criminal conspiracy and Juvenile justice Act, Yadav said. The duo told police that they had kidnapped the child from Shashtri Park and the arrangements were made by Deena Nath for Rs 1 lakh.

Police are now trying to trace the biological parents of the baby. After the orders of the Child Welfare Committee, the child has been admitted to NGO Udyan, Yadav said. Sumit told police that he became a partner with Dina Nath after he offered him a lot of money for human trafficking.