On the day that 34-year-old Vandana Jigar Panchal and her two co-accused were sent to Sabarmati Central Jail at the end of their six-day remand with the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad City Police in the case of trafficking of a 15-day-old child, a fourth accused in the case, Yunus Imamkhan Noorkhan Sindhi, was arrested from Banaskantha district.
Police Inspector Raghuveersinh Gadhvi of the Crime Branch said Munna alias Yunus Sindhi, arrested on Wednesday, was the “second buyer” of the child.
Munna had allegedly procured the infant from another man named Govind, who had either “procured or kidnapped” the child from her parents, Gadhvi said. Govind is still at large.
Gadhvi told The Indian Express that Sindhi was produced before a court, which sent him to three-day police remand. Yunus Sindhi was earlier booked by the DCB for trafficking an infant in Kalupur area of Ahmedabad city back in 2023.
Police recovered a bank cheque of Rs 2 lakh signed by Vandana Panchal from Yunus Sindhi, Inspector Gadhvi said, adding that Sindhi had been paid Rs 3.60 lakh for the child.
Panchal, a resident of Odhav in Ahmedabad, is an accused in the trafficking case of three infants to Telangana at Chaitanyapuri police station in Hyderabad in February 2025. She is also suspected in the alleged trafficking of six other children in an active investigation by the Ahmedabad Rural Police. In the current case, she was arrested by the Ahmedabad City Police on January 29 while transporting a 15-day-old child, allegedly to Hyderabad.
According to police, Vandana Panchal is linked to a multi-state child trafficking racket. The Ahmedabad City and Ahmedabad Rural Police are jointly investigating the larger racket involving the disappearance of several infants in Gujarat ranging from 4 days to 2 years old.
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Vandana Panchal, along with Roshan alias Sajjan Mahavirprasad Agrawal (42) of Hyderabad, Telangana, (originally from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan); and Sumit Bachchan Yadav (27) resident of Vatva, Ahmedabad (originally from Sultanpur, UP) were also placed under arrest. A fourth person, Maulik Umiyashankar Dave (32), driver of the vehicle, was detained and remains a subject of investigation. Two more persons including Munna alias Yunus Sindhi of Banaskantha, and Nagraj, a buyer from Hyderabad, were booked by the Crime Branch.
Apart from Govind, the Crime Branch is also on the look out for Nagraj, who was supposed to take the delivery of the 15-day-old child in Hyderabad. The police are also investigating whether this infant’s parents sold the child, in which case, they could also be booked.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
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Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
