Five women are among seven people arrested from Odisha's steel city Rourkela as police cracked a newborn babies trafficking racket flourishing across interstate borders, officials said on Tuesday.
The officials of Plant Site police station in Sundergarh district cracked the racket, following a complaint filed by one Seema Khuntia who alleged that her one and a half-year-old granddaughter was abducted.
Rourkela Additional SP, Bikram Keshari Bhoi said, "Eight out of seven involved in the crime have been arrested and their mobile phones have been seized. We found a lot of pictures of new born babies in their mobile phones, which indicate that they are involved in child trafficking."
The baby was rescued from the possession of the accused persons, he said. Many of those arrested belong to well-to-do families and they lured poor families in Rourkela with money and bought their children.
They were getting up to Rs 4 lakh for selling a male baby and up to Rs 1 lakh for the girl child, police said. Subsequently, they sold the children outside the state, especially in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, they said. A case has been registered against and further investigation is underway.
