RANCHI: Investigations by multiple agencies into the sale of four children by a sister and staff of Nirmal Hriday, a shelter for homeless women has led to suspicions that it could be part of a much larger racket.
The shelter is among 12 centers in the state run by the Missionaries of Charity founded in 1950 by Mother Teresa.
All the centres are now under the scanner of various agencies, including state police, the Child Welfare Committee as well as financial watchdogs probing suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by the centres. Reports say that over 50 children at these centres are unaccounted for.
“We have written to the state government for CBI inquiry as it has come into light during the investigation that five more organisations are also associated with Missionaries of Charity who have received foreign funds of `927 crore from 2006 to 2018 and there are possibilities that the funds were used for some other purposes other than that it was meant for which is a violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,” said ADG (Operations) and Jharkhand Police spokesperson R K Mallick.
While preliminary investigations by the Child welfare Committee members revealed that the number of unaccounted babies was 26 since January 1, 2017, District Social Welfare Officer Kanchan Singh claimed that 58 children born in the shelter home were traceless.
Local police believe Sisters Koshleniea and Anima, who have admitted to selling four infants so far, could not have done this without the connivance of others within and outside the organisation. Three of the four children have already been recovered, while the fourth is likely to be found soon, police said.