The Thane police have arrested a couple for attempting to sell their five-month-old boy for ₹90,000. Police said the father, an auto driver, was struggling to feed his six children as he was not earning enough due to the pandemic.
A woman, who was helping them, was also arrested and a probe is underway into illegal adoptions she facilitated in the past.
Pallavi and Sainath Bhoir, residents of Shahad, had five children and the wife gave birth to her sixth child this year. “The couple has six children and they were having a tough time financially. So, they decided to sell their newborn,” said Senior Inspector N Bankar.
The 36-year-old woman, Mansi Jadhav, who had previously worked with an NGO that helps in adoption, was also arrested along with the couple on Saturday.
An officer said Sainath had come in contact with Jadhav, a Belapur resident, during his visits to Rukmini Bai Hospital in Kalyan.
The Thane Crime Branch officers had laid a trap in Kalyan after receiving a tip-off about the sale of the child. “Our informer told us that Jadhav was bringing the child to Kalyan court to hand him over to a customer after a payment of ₹1.7 lakh,” the officer added. Jadhav had promised ₹90,000 to the couple and had planned to keep the rest.
Police sent a civilian as the customer and another person as their eyewitness. The civilian reached the court around 11.30 am on Saturday and met with Jadhav. They then walked to Deepak Hotel, where Jadhav gave the baby to the eyewitness and as she was receiving the payment, police came and took her into custody.
Surjitt Sahani
