CHANDIGARH: A human trafficking gang has been busted in Patiala. It has come to light that infants were bought for a pittance of Rs 50,000 from poverty-stricken families and sold to childless couples for around Rs 5 lakhs. In some cases, the babies were stolen.
This has come to light after Punjab police busted a gang of seven, including two women and middlemen, who were allegedly involved in human trafficking. The arrest was possible following a tip-off.
Two newly born babies were rescued from the gang.
Senior Superintendent of Police of Patiala Varun Sharma said that those arrested were Baljinder Singh, Amandeep Kaur, Bhupinder Kaur, Lalit Kumar, Sajita, Harpreet Singh, and Sukhwinder Singh.
Sajita hails from Bihar. She had sold her child to this gang.
Sadar Samana police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 370 (5) (trafficking of minors), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and Section 81 of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.
The gang members reportedly confessed to having sold around seven infants in the past few months. They had converted a Toyota Innova vehicle into an ambulance so that the
police and authorities did not have any suspicion about their movements when they transported the babies. The vehicle has also been recovered.
It may be recalled that in August 2020, police had arrested a five-member gang, including a police constable, and rescued a two-day-old boy they lifted from a hospital in Sangrur.