BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police formally registered a case against three couples in the alleged children sale case in the city on Friday. Apart from biological parents of the children, Shyama Chandra Rao and Pramila Rao, the other two couples who had allegedly ‘bought’ the children were booked under Section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act for cruelty to juvenile child.
While Ranjit Chaudhuri and his wife Chandini, the Samastipur-based couple from Bihar, have been detained for buying Rao’s 22-day-old boy, the police on Friday booked Pipili-based Prakash Panda and his wife Swarna Prabha in connection with the sale of the two-and-a-half-year-old son of the slum couple.
The toddler was rescued by a team of the Commissionerate Police from Pipili on Thursday night. Panda, who runs a medicine shop at Pipili market, claimed to have adopted the child. Though there was no clear evidence of any agreement between Rao and Panda, financial transaction can not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, another child of Rao, an eight-year-old girl, who was reported to be at Visakhapatnam, has been traced to Cuttack district. A team of the Commissionerate Police has been sent to locate and rescue the girl. The minor girl was allegedly sold to a woman in Sikharpur area at Cuttack, sources said. The identity of the woman who ‘bought’ the girl child has been kept undisclosed. The information about these two children, apart from the 22-day-old who was rescued by the police from Jagatsinghpur on Tuesday, was revealed when Rao and Pramila were questioned.
“Each of the three families who had bought Rao’s sons have two daughters,” said District Child Protection Officer, Khurda, Banishree Patnaik. The chain of events had started with the rescue of Rao’s eldest child Monu (his name changed) from Visakhapatnam. Unable to tolerate the misery he was subjected to, Monu fled from his home and landed in Visakhapatnam. His rescue led to the expose on the alleged sale of his 22-day-old brother to the Chaudhuri couple.