Newborn babies trafficked from Mumbai, sold in Bengaluru

Police say they have busted a thriving baby-trading racket by arresting five people, three of them women.

The racketeers purchased newborn babies from their biological parents who badly needed money. The female members of the gang approached childless couples by claiming to be the babies’ surrogate mothers and offered to give them in for adoption at a price.

The racket was so successful that the police believe at least 28 newborn babies were traded this way. Police have been able to trace only 13 babies so
far and the biological parents of just one child.

The racket was busted after months of painstaking police investigation. The first lead came during the investigation of a baby theft reported from a hospital, a senior police officer said.

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On April 5, Basavanagudi women’s police inspector H M Meenakshi received a tip-off that a 26-year-old woman named Devi was buying babies from Mumbai and selling them in Bengaluru.

Police personnel disguised as labourers went to the KSR Bengaluru railway station where the baby sale was reported to be taking place.

Around 8 pm, police spotted two women with a month-old baby. The police team surrounded them and asked about the baby. The women didn’t give a satisfactory answer and were taken to the police station. Police quickly ascertained their identities: one of them was Devi and the other Ranjana Devidas Kandagale, 32, from Maharashtra.

In the beginning, police weren’t sure that the racket was this big.

It was Ranjana who had purchased the baby from its biological parent. Ranjana contacted Devi, a surrogacy agent. The women were in the process of approaching a childless couple when police caught hold of them.

Police later arrested three more surrogacy agents — Mahesh Kumar, 50, of Kathriguppe, Dhanalakshmi, 30, of Mallasandra near Jalahalli, and Janardhan alias Janardhanan, 33, of Erode, Tamil Nadu. One of them was arrested only a few days ago.

A main agent named Rathna died of Covid earlier this year. She had contacts with poor parents in Maharashtra and bought babies from them, according to police.

Police said the agents hung around IVF centres and approached couples or single parents, offering them surrogacy services for Rs 3-4 lakh, far lower than the standard price of Rs 15 lakh. Besides Bengaluru, the gang sold babies in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Of the 13 children traced by the police, one has been handed back to its parents. All others are in the custody of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

Police are looking to arrest more suspects in the case. They have registered a suo motu case under the Juvenile Justice Act and section 370 (trafficking of minors) of the Indian Penal Code.

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