3 illegally adopted sisters rescued

Madurai: Madurai city police on Saturday rescued three daughters of a woman, given away in illegal adoption to three separate couples in the last three years. Five people including two couples have been arrested while two others are absconding.

The incident came to light after an unidentified person alerted the district child welfare committee (CWC) about the illegal adoption of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl by a couple in Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Palanganatham.

When a CWC team and police visited the couple, Balachandran and Kalanidhi, they produced a birth certificate and Aadhaar card for the child identified as Varnika Pandi. For a moment the police thought that the girl was the couple’s own child and the alert could have been a hoax. However, a check with the Madurai corporation found that the certificate was taken using fake documents. One Saravanan had helped the couple secure the certificate to show as if the child was born in a private hospital though it was born in Government Rajaji Hospital. Inquiries revealed that the childless couple adopted the baby when it was just three days old and that they had paid Rs 20,000 to get the certificate.

Further inquiries revealed that the actual mother of the child was M Chithra, 38, a homeless woman living in Avaniyapuram. She told the police that she had given birth to five children including a boy which however died during delivery. Her husband Murugan died three years ago. The first baby was stolen by someone soon after her birth and a complaint in this connection was lodged with the city police. The boy was born next, but he died during delivery. Thereafter, she gave birth to twin girls four years ago and christened them Harisri and Sanjanasri while a fifth girl child was named Varnika Pandi.

Chithra’s relative G Suganya gave away Harisri and Varnika Pandi and kept Sanjanasri for herself. Police said there is no information yet on whether Suganya has received any money from the couples for the illegal adoption. Suganya told the police that she gave away the child since the mother was not in a position to raise them.

B Pandiaraja, member of child welfare committee, said L Shanmugam, another member and Dr Vijaya Saravanan, chairman, lodged a complaint with Avaniyapuram police on behalf of the committee. “We have received the rescued children and sent them home. Since the children were less than five years old, they have been sent to an adoption agency located at SS Colony,” Pandiaraja said.

A police officer said a case was registered against the couples Suganya-Ganesh Kumar, Balachandran-Kalanidhi and Selvi-Samaya Sanjeevi as well as Saravanan under various sections of IPC and Juvenile Justice (care and protection act). All of them were arrested except for Samaya Sanjeevi and Saravanan, who have gone underground.

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