
BELAGAVI: Four people have been arrested for allegedly selling a seven-year-old boy from Sultanpur in Hukkeri taluk of Belagavi district for Rs 4 lakh. This is the third such case reported in the district in the past three months.
The arrested have been identified as Sadashiv Shivbasappa Magdum, 32, the child’s stepfather, who hails from Sultanpur; Lakshmi Babu Golbhavi, 38, who hails from Bhadgaon, but resides in Sultanpur; Sangeeta Vishnu Sawant, 40, of Nagala Park in Kolhapur and a resident of Ambedkar Nagar; and Anasuya Girimallappa Dodmani, 50, of Kesroli in Haliyal taluk of Karwar.
Superintendent of police Bheemashankar Guled said Shivbasappa Magdum and some middlemen from Kolhapur and Karwar sold the boy to a woman, Dilshad Sikandar Tehsildar from Belagavi city, for Rs 4 lakh. Dilshad, who has two daughters, wanted a son.
Magdum married the boy’s mother Sangeeta Gudappa Kammar, 30, four months ago. Magdum had children from his previous marriage. Their children used to fight frequently and fed up with this, Magdum wanted to sell the boy.
Lakshmi helped Magdum marry Sangeeta four months ago. She conspired with Sangeeta and asked her to hand over the boy to Anasuya Dodmani at Kesroli in Karwar. Anasuya later sold the boy to Dilshad, claiming that he was an orphan.
Meanwhile, the boy’s biological mother, Sangeeta Kammar, filed a complaint stating that her son was missing. A police team found the boy in a village near Bailhongal.