Palanpur: The inter-state child trafficking racket busted in Sabarkantha is widening, with interrogation of the seven arrested accused throwing up more names and revealing that at least 13 infants, aged between one and six months, were allegedly sold in Maharashtra and possibly Andhra Pradesh for Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.Investigators said prime accused Kavita Jadav, who was arrested in Mumbai along with co-accused Sitaram Parmar, made the revelations during questioning and named three other persons, including two women, allegedly involved in the racket.The probe also revealed that Kavita is facing a child trafficking case at a police station in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.“Kavita confessed that she procured seven children from Sitaram and sold them to Noori Harun Sheikh of Mumbai. Sheikh further sold the infants to Najaf alias Munna, who lives in Kolhapur,” said Smit Gohil, deputy superintendent of police, Himmatnagar.Devilal Gamar, who was earlier arrested along with four others while allegedly trafficking a one-month-old girl, sold six infants to a woman named Rupa. “Rupa is lodged in Vadodara jail in a child trafficking case,” Gohil said.“The kingpin of the racket and more details about the buyers of these infants will emerge after more arrests are made,” the DySP added.Sources said prima facie, the gang members, who worked as commission agents for a larger network, exploited the poor financial condition of couples in the tribal areas of Sabarkantha’s Poshina and Khedbrahma talukas and adjoining Rajasthan’s Kotda Chhavni taluka to procure their infants.The racket was busted on August 19 after police arrested five people, including the father and uncle of a one-month-old girl who was allegedly being taken to Mumbai for sale. They were intercepted on the Idar-Himmatnagar highway after police received specific information about child trafficking and the newborn being taken to Mumbai for sale.Those arrested included Popat Gamar, who allegedly posed as the newborn’s father, his wife Babi, who acted as the child’s mother, and brokers Devilal Gamar, Pravin Dhrangi and Dinesh Dhrangi.
