Bengaluru police busts inter-state child trafficking racket

Bengaluru: Police have busted an inter-state baby-trading racket and arrested five suspects.

The accused purchased a newborn from parents in need of money. The racketeers then sold the babies to childless couples through surrogacy agents.

Police arrested two women traffickers Devi (26) and Ranjana Devidas Kandagale (32) from Maharashtra and three more surrogacy agents — Mahesh Kumar (50) of Kathriguppe, Dhanalakshmi (30) of Mallasandra near Jalahalli, and Janardhan alias Janardhanan (33) of Erode, Tamil Nadu.

According to police, the racket was busted after months of investigative police work. The scope of the racket was so wide that they suspect at least 28 newborns were traded in this way. However, only 13 babies sold by the gang have been traced so far.

Sources said the ring leader named Rathna had succumbed to Covid earlier this year. Tracing the biological parents of the babies has been difficult because only Rathna had their contacts.