'In affairs, girls become pregnant. They are hidden for 5-6 months for this work'

The following are transcripts of the conversations between The Telegraph’s reporters and Ashim-da, who promised to facilitate the illegal adoption of a baby and provide legal papers for a price of Rs 2.5 lakh.

SEPTEMBER 20

TT:You said to call in the evening. So….

Ashim: Yes, yes. Do you have a marriage certificate?

TT:No, we told you we have a problem.

Ashim:Ok, ok. So what’s the matter with your having an issue (child)?

TT:We have a problem….

Ashim: Tell me everything. I need to know. Don’t hide anything. Hope you live here.

TT:Yes, we live in Calcutta.

Ashim:No, I was wondering if you would be able to raise a newborn…. The problem (live-in relationship) you have, no home will give you.

TT:We are ready to pay. You just tell us what to do.

Ashim:Don’t worry. Let me see, I will tell our network. Let’s see what we can do….

TT:You have given us hope. We have been making the rounds for two years. Desperate, we are now calling you. Shall we finally get a baby?

Ashim:Of course you will. Call in the evening. Call after one or two days. If I hear anything I will tell you….

Whatever happens will be illegal but all this will be made legal. You will be taken to a nursing home where you will be made to sign for the baby. Everything will be foolproof…. Let me tell you how it works. Unwed mothers are kept in nursing homes and from there babies are given. If the mother does not hand over the baby, it can’t be given….

Ashim:It might so happen, we could tell you tomorrow, something might develop. You will have to come rightaway. Will you be able to?

TT:Of course, why not?

SEPTEMBER 22

TT:I know I am bothering you again and again.

Ashim:I have put our network on the job, people are making enquiries. Tell me, can you organise a birth certificate?

TT:Do we have to arrange a birth certificate?

Ashim:Can you?

TT:Please do it for us.

Ashim:This will have to be original. Not so easy.

TT:We are ready to pay. We will pay for this difficult job.

Ashim: There’s news of an unmarried mother. She’s there. For three-four months. She will be kept in a nursing home, which will cost money. Doctors have been spoken to. I see that keeping the mother will be expensive. Then a birth certificate has to be made. Which means… it will cost 2 to 2-1/2.

TT:2-1/2 lakh? Ok, we will pay.

Ashim: Please don’t discuss money over the phone….

TT:Does my wife have to be admitted?

Ashim: No, no. I’ve planned everything out. You’ll just have to sign.

TT:Can you tell us which nursing home?

Ashim:Will tell you one or two days ahead….

TT:Hope we will get a healthy baby.

Ashim: Don’t go mentioning ‘baby, baby’ on the phone. Don’t worry, you will get a beautiful thing.

SEPTEMBER 27

Ashim:I have alerted the network all around. There is a chance of something turning up in a few days. I’m trying an NGO too. If it can organise something. I’ve told them you can’t show marriage proof.

TT:Ok, ok.

Ashim:If you take (the baby) from an NGO, there will be a court involved. Then proof will be needed. That will be a problem for you. Don’t worry, I will do it the way it suits you.

TT:Ok. Can I say something? I’m desperate to see the mother. Money is not an issue. I can give her money too. If I could see the mother, I could rest easy.

Ashim:Know what, the network we work in no one wants to ever come face to face. All these things happen, most of them, in teacher-student love affairs and the girl becomes pregnant. They have to be hidden for five-six months to get this work done. And we, middlemen, organise these things. No one wants to show anyone else the road. This way the mother can’t make a claim later. This is better. No one will know where the baby is going, who is taking it. No one can make a claim.

TT:Ok. I was saying no one will know, I’ll sneak a peek from the doorway.

Ashim:The baby won’t be given to me either. They won’t give me.

TT:What if I pay your middleman through you?

Ashim:No, that can’t happen. Listen, this sounds bad but this is not something to be traded in the marketplace. But whatever happens will be legal. It’s really illegal, but when everything’s done, it will be legal. It will be shown as your wife’s issue. A discharge certificate will be made for her. The baby will have an original birth certificate. You’ve come to me. Don’t worry.

TT:Thanks.

Ashim:Had you gone to an NGO, it would have taken you a year to a year and half to complete all the formalities in the court. Instead of that, here everything will be over in a month. So tell me which is better?

OCTOBER 2

Ashim calls saying there’s news. An appointment is made for 4pm in the northeastern suburbs. The rest of the conversation is in our car. The TT reporter wants to bring along his “elder brother” to meet Ashim in the final round, during the transaction. Ashim agrees to meet him.

Ashim:Ok, then in the evening. Let’s meet in someone’s house. A lot of people are after me. Some have made advance payments of Rs 10,000-25,000. But I say is this a grocery (shows list of waiting parents)? Know why the cost is more? Because this works like a chain. The nursing home where it (perhaps the baby will be born) will be done, that nursing home will confirm and the baby will be shown as having been born to you. The illegal thing will become foolproof.

You will get the birth certificate in a month. All papers will be made inside Calcutta. From a nursing home at Phoolbagan, Maniktala, Bagmari or near the airport. You will just sign. So the job will be watertight. We have links with doctors all over. The doctor will do the work fast, the baby will be given from there. This will be completely foolproof. The place you went first was the wrong place. We don’t cheat where a mother’s emotions are involved. We won’t cheat. We will return the money if the work is not done.

TT:Ok.

Ashim:I’ve been informed that’s why I’m telling you. The news has been passed along the chain. I’ve heard the baby has been born.

TT:The baby is in which nursing home?

Ashim:Quite far. The baby is brought here. The mother is discharged. The unwed mother wouldn’t see all this. The mothers have to be hidden. Sometimes they are from good families. The family is involved. So they have to be kept in nursing homes in the interiors, such as Baruipur, Basirhat, Bongaon, Diamond Harbour, Duttapukur, Hasnabad, Barasat.

Unwed mothers don’t create trouble. Married, poor mothers at times cause trouble. They may enquire about the baby later.

That’s why we do foolproof work. No cheating… You be prepared.

OCTOBER 3

Ashim:Can you come tomorrow? I’ve talked to the doctor. He said taking you to the nursing home will be troublesome, so we go to his house. Bring your wife and no one else.

TT:But my brother wants to talk. Can’t I, my brother and you talk to the doctor tomorrow? I haven’t told my wife anything yet. If she knows, she will get too anxious.

Ashim:No, no. Your and your wife’s signatures will be needed. That remains. This is final (repeats thrice).

TT:So which nursing home do we go to?

Ashim:No need to talk about this on the phone. Lots of things can happen.

TT:No, I’ve become so tense I asked you the hospital’s name.

Ashim:Don’t get tense. Now everything is confirmed. You have to come to Maniktala. From there I’ll take you to the doctor’s house in an auto. The two of you will sign and give your address. Decide a name for the baby. That name has to be entered in the birth certificate. It’s a boy. You’re very lucky. I swear.

TT:Thank you. Can we do a medical test on the baby? Can my doctor examine the baby?

Ashim:Till you have the papers, you can’t go to another doctor. They will ask for the papers. We will fix everything. Don’t worry.

TT:I’ve a doctor in Durgapur (where the TT reporter has said his ancestral home is). I’ve told him everything. He said he would do a check-up.

Ashim:Listen, we will give the baby after a check-up. We don’t hand over before that. We don’t accept if the baby is not all right. Two years back, we faced a problem. One person brought his own doctor for a check-up but could not show any papers. Then that doctor started such blackmailing! That was a huge thing. That’s why we no more allow anyone. However much you know the doctor, you must be careful.

TT:Ok…

Ashim:Tomorrow we go to the doctor. Day after we hand over. Then you pay. If I can hand over the papers, my work is done. Meanwhile, if any money is needed to be paid to the nursing home or the doctor, I will tell you.

TT:Of course. Which nursing home?

Ashim:I’ve confirmed everything. You come to Maniktala.

TT:Where in Maniktala? Should I bring a car?

Ashim:No, auto is better. We will go to the doctor’s house.

TT:Why not go to the nursing home? Where’s the doctor’s house.…

Ashim:Near Bagmari bazaar

TT:In Maniktala

TT:Then can we go to the nursing home first, see the baby and then go to the doctor’s house….

Ashim:No, the baby is in a different nursing home. There the original mother is shown as the mother. This nursing home is just for the signature. This will show that your wife was admitted there so the birth certificate can be done.

TT:Does that mean we can’t meet the mother and the baby.

Ashim: No, no.

TT:Can’t it be done? Please. No one will know.

Ashim:Even we can’t see. Forget about you. We don’t move unless we are sure. For you we have to keep the baby in the nursing home for two extra days. They wanted to hand over today itself. I told them your problem. I said you have some urgent business. That’s why I postponed it from Sunday.

TT:Ok, thanks.

Ashim:The doctor we are going to is a gynae. Don’t say anything in front of him. He will just show in the papers that your wife was admitted to the nursing home. It will be shown as a normal delivery where the patient can be released in a day. Payment has been settled with the doctor. Don’t say anything. You just sign and leave.

TT:Ok, we will pay you the entire amount.

Ashim:Yes, based on your signature we will prepare a discharge certificate. The register will have to show your wife’s name. Otherwise, how will a genuine birth certificate be made? Then we will send it to the corporation. You only have to collect it. All this is illegal but, finally, everything will be legal.

TT:So when will we get the baby?

Ashim: I want to hand over on Tuesday (two days from then).

TT:I want to see the baby. I am dying to see the baby.

Ashim:It’s somewhere else. Before handover, they don’t allow anyone to see it. There’re lots of things. What if someone says ‘you didn’t give it to us, you gave it to someone else’? They don’t tell us where the baby is. We accept the baby at a point. It will be brought to your home. We have a nurse. She will bring it to your house. She will tell you everything. Have you talked to an ayah?

TT:Yes, yes. Everything is ready…

So what time tomorrow at Maniktala?

Ashim:…We will go to the doctor’s after 5

(TT meets the doctor the next day, escorted by Ashim. The doctor had the papers showing the adoptive parents as the biological parents of the baby. This is the point where TT stopped because it would have been illegal to proceed further.)