A two-and-half-year-old baby was allegedly abducted and put up for sale on Whatsapp. The message quoted his price as Rs 1.8 lakh along with his photograph. Police doubt that these women were involved in illegal surrogacy racket.
The boy was allegedly kidnapped from the gates of Jama Masjid and was bought consecutively by three women, all of whom wanted to sell the kid for a higher price, the police said.
A WhatsApp user had called the Jama Masjid police after he saw the photograph of the child on television and in a group. Somehow, the women who circulated the message on WhatsApp got wind of the fact that the police had got to know about the same. Feared of getting caught, she called them up in advance and informed them of an 'abandoned' child who she had left at a temple in Raghubir Nagar.
"We had received a complaint about the missing child and had registered a case of kidnapping. A team led by SHO Jama Masjid Anil Kumar was formed to track him down. When we received a tip-off from the informer, raids were conducted and the gang was nabbed," said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, DCP told TOI.
The kidnappers were later identified as Radha (40), Sonia (24), Saroj (34) and Jaan Mohammad, (40), were arrested on Thursday.
Jaan Mohammed during an enquiry told the police that he had picked up the kid from Gate 1 near Jama Masjid while his parents were getting ready to pray on June 5. When Radha assured him a good share in the 'sale', he took the kid to her house in Shakurpur. Radha kept the kid for a few days until Sonia offered a Rs 1 lakh and took him to Mangolpuri. He was in turn sold to one Saroj for Rs 1.1 lakh who had put out the WhatsApp message with the photo of the kid and demanded Rs 1.8 lakh.
A police officer said that Saroj, Radha and Sonia had met earlier in an IVF clinic and had even sold a boy in Gurgaon. Police said that they used to look for childless couples willing to adopt a child.
