Crime branch rescues 4-yr-old girl from child selling racket, arrests 5 women and a man

Nagpur: The crime branch busted a child selling racket and rescued a four-year-old girl, who was going to be sold off for Rs2.5

lakh. Five women and one man were arrested in the daylong action from different places on Saturday.

Prima facie, police feel the racket is part of a bigger illegal surrogacy and adoption racket. The women are hired as surrogate

mothers illegally and deliveries are done clandestinely with the help of doctors at small clinics. More arrests are likely. The

racketeers used Aadhaar card of childless couples to create fake parents of the child in the hospital records.

City police chief Amitesh Kumar had kicked off a secret mission sometime back to track down child trafficking agents in city.

The agents are known to push minors into begging and other nefarious activities. The latest action is part of Kumar’s larger

plan to break the trafficking nexus operating in city.

Sharmila Khakse, Shaila Manchalwar and Surendra Patle were taken into custody after they were caught red-handed trying to

sell the four-year-old girl to undercover cops near Medical Square. It’s learnt Manchalwar had last week sold off her own 12-

day-old son through Khakse for Rs3.5 lakh.

Following their interrogation, a police team led by senior inspector Sarthak Nehete picked up Surendra’s wife Pooja, Manorama

Dhoble and Laxmi Rana, who worked as commission agents.

Police sources said the mastermind of the racket, Khakse, operated from Indora in north Nagpur. She lured childless couple by

promising to get them children bypassing the legal adoption system.

The crime branch, under supervision of DCP Gajanan Rajmane and Addl CP Sunil Phulari, have procured seven-day custody of

the five women and Patle after producing them before the court. The police team included assistant PI Suraj Suroshe and subinspector Atul Ingole.

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