New Delhi: A newborn boy, allegedly sold by his father for Rs 2.5 lakh to a woman in Punjab, was recovered from Haryana’s Jind, police said. Two people, including the father, have been apprehended.Police received a PCR call Wednesday night from a neighbour about the alleged sale. A team reached the location in southwest Delhi’s Uttam Nagar and met the caller. Police found that a 55-year-old man, who works as a tailor, lives with his wife and five children. The baby, their sixth child, was born on Aug 28.The man allegedly told police that he didn’t have the means to raise another child and knew a 72-year-old woman who lived in the neighbourhood and worked as a domestic help. The woman allegedly told him that she could arrange for someone willing to take the newborn. According to police, the woman had earlier lived in Punjab and known another woman there who was looking for a baby for a relative.Police said that on Sept 5, the woman from Punjab and two other women visited the elderly woman’s house. The man met them with the newborn, and the child was allegedly handed over to the woman from Punjab in exchange for Rs 2.5 lakh.A case was registered under Section 81 (sale and procurement of children for any purpose) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, at Uttam Nagar police station. A police team was sent to Fagwara in Punjab to trace the child and the people allegedly involved in the transaction. Based on technical surveillance, the newborn was found in Jind.Police apprehended the child’s father and the woman from Punjab. Further investigation is underway to establish the role of other people allegedly involved in the transaction and ascertain the circumstances under which the child was handed over.In July, Delhi Police busted a gang allegedly involved in selling newborns and infants to childless couples. The investigation revealed that the gang members allegedly acted as intermediaries, arranging children for couples who were looking to adopt outside the legal process. Police also found that some parents were allegedly handing over or selling their children to such gangs for money.
