Thrissur: A one-month-old baby girl, who was sold off by a couple of Kunissery in Palakkad district to a human trafficking agent hailing from Tamil Nadu, was rescued by the police from Erode on Saturday.
The baby is presently under the care of officials at Anand Bhavan at Malampuzha, a rescue home for children under five years of age.
The Alathur police investigating the case arrested five accused in the case, including Raj 30, father of the baby, who is a construction labourer, Bindu, 30, his wife, agents Janardhanan and Sumathi of Erode and Viji, 48, mother of the father.
They were presented before the Judicial Magistrate Court in Alathur and were remanded.
An FIR was registered against the accused as per Section 370 of IPC for human trafficking, Mr S. Anish, Alathur sub- inspector, said.
The couple and the agents confessed to the cops that they already had four kids, one girl and three boys, and that they sold their fifth baby for '1.1 lakh due to abject poverty.
The Child Welfare Committee in Palakkad will hold a sitting on the further course of action on Monday.
It is learnt from the investigation team led by Alathur circle inspector K.A. Elizabeth that the agents were also working as middlemen for providing sperm and eggs from donors for infertility treatment and had struck a deal with the mother of the baby after delivery at district Hospital in Palakkad on December 25.
The agents are members of a network of human trafficking in Tamil Nadu. They handed over the baby to the police in Erode after they were contacted over phone, police sources said.
