Jayankondam: The district police here arrested six persons and are on the lookout for one more person, all of whom allegedly were involved in selling a 50-day-old female infant, purportedly for Rs 1.80 lakh at a village in Ariyalur district. Police said on Friday that the infant in question was the third child delivered by Ms. Meena recently at the primary health centre at Meensurutti in the district. She and her husband B. Ramaraj of Kavetteri village nearby are the parents of two children already.
However, due to the poverty, the gypsy couple wanted to see their new baby brought up well by a suitable foster parent and had approached one of their relatives, Karthi of Vadalur in neighbouring Cuddalore district. Karthi in turn had allegedly contacted two child traffickers, one Meharbenza, a Siddha doctor, and another person, P Sarangapani of Vadalur, police said. The alleged child traffickers reportedly sold the girl baby for Rs 1.80 lakh to an issueless couple of Coimbatore, through a relative. But the traffickers paid the original parents of the child only Rs 80,000, police said.
Meanwhile, the PHC Doctors who noticed the couple had not brought their girl child for administering vaccination on the 45th day went to the couple's house and asked for the newborn to administer the vaccine. As the couple gave contradictory replies, the doctors informed the matter to the district collector and higher-ups of the Health department. The district child protection welfare officer Mohammad Yunis Khan who went to inquire at the village came to know that the infant had been sold. Based on his complaint, Meensurutti police arrested B.Ramaraj, and his wife Meena, and four others including Ms. Meharbenza, P.Sarangapani, Anya Mohan, and V. Selvaraj. They have been remanded to judicial custody, even as police are on the lookout for Karthi said to be absconding.
