VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam city police on Sunday arrested six people, including two doctors and two ASHA workers, for allegedly trafficking newborns. The gang allegedly sold six babies so far.
Announcing this on Sunday, Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner RK Meena said Dr P Namrata, the managing director of Universal Srusthi Fertility and Research Centre at V Madugula, was the kingpin of the racket. Two ASHA workers of V Madugula, Annapurna and K Venkatalakshmi, and another doctor of the hospital Dr Tirumala Rao were among the accused.
Meena said Dr Namrata earlier used to run Sristhi Hospital, but after the Kothapeta police in Guntur registered two cases against the institute for alleged trafficking in 2018, the name was changed to Universal Srusthi Fertility and Research Centre to continue the illegal operations.
“Dr Namrata developed a network of agents to identify destitute pregnant women and women with unwanted pregnancies to buy and traffick their babies,” the Commissioner said.He added that she used to bring in women with unwanted pregnancies, promising to give them money and conduct the delivery for free in return for the baby.
Dr Namrata opened branches in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, and used to conduct free medical camps with her team in North Andhra and Odisha to identify poor and destitute pregnant women and women with unwanted pregnancies. She used the two ASHA workers as her agents, the police said.
“Dr Namrata used to bring the identified pregnant women to her hospital, promising to pay them and conduct the delivery for free if they give the babies to her,” the Commissioner said, adding that she allegedly sold the newborns to rich families through her agents. “The gang impersonated the parents to enter incorrect details in the birth certificates,” he pointed out.
The racket came to light when a widow from Kanikaramata Colony in V Madugula complained that she was lured by the agents to give up her baby in return for money and a free delivery. She agreed and was taken to the hospital, where she gave birth to a boy.
The baby was then sold to a family in West Bengal.
Based on her complaint, a trafficking case was registered and special police teams were formed to nab the accused, who were absconding. Six accused persons have been arrested, and an investigation is on. Besides the doctors and ASHA workers, an employee at Namrata’s hospital, L Chandra Mohan, and an agent, A Ramakrishna, were arrested.
Even before the case was registered, the widow brought the matter to the notice of the local anganwadi teacher Guntu Sarojini, who informed the ICDS, which alerted the childline on March 14. Following this, Chandra Mohan brought the baby back from the couple who bought it from him, and gave it to the childline on March 20. The baby was kept under the custody of the Sishu Griha in Visakhapatnam.