Child trafficking gang that abducted kids from New Delhi rly station busted, 4 held
During questioning, police said the couple admitted that the children were trafficked through an elaborate process — in which forged papers were used to bypass medical and legal hurdles
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According to police, when CCTV footage from the night of October 16 was retrieved from the railway station, a woman was seen picking up the child and boarding an auto-rickshaw from the main entry gateOn October 17 last year, when a woman went to the police station at the New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) to report her two-and-a-half-year-old child was missing, little did officers know that an elaborate child-trafficking network was behind the crime.
This gang, police later found, abducted children sleeping at the railway station in the early hours and gave them to unsuspecting foster parents.
On Monday, the Delhi Police’s railway unit said the gang had been busted with the arrest of four people, including a couple.
According to police, when CCTV footage from the night of October 16 was retrieved from the railway station, a woman was seen picking up the child and boarding an auto-rickshaw from the main entry gate.
“The auto driver was identified. He said he dropped her near the toll gate at the Badarpur-Faridabad border,” said DCP (Railways) KPS Malhotra.
A team was formed to track down the suspect.
On January 21, another woman reported that her four-month-old infant was abducted from the Food Court Waiting Hall at NDLS.
When the Railway unit team examined CCTV footage, the case was found to be similar to the previous abduction.
“The suspect was seen boarding an auto-rickshaw from the main entry gate, raising suspicions of a well-coordinated kidnapping network. Thereafter, the team tirelessly integrated a network of 700 CCTV cameras… and superimposed it with the telecom data to find workable clues,” DCP Malhotra said.
Police finally traced the woman, Arti, to Faridabad where she was living with her husband, Suraj. On February 2, both were arrested. “Suraj supported her by coordinating with traffickers and buyers, facilitating transactions, and ensuring smooth execution of deals,” DCP Malhotra said.
During questioning, police said the couple admitted that the children were trafficked through an elaborate process — in which forged papers were used to bypass medical and legal hurdles — with the assistance of a clerk and a nurse.
Police said the clerk, Nirmala aka Nimmi, was arrested the same day.
“She prepared forged adoption documents, coordinated with prospective families, and used legal loopholes to make the trafficking appear legitimate,” DCP Malhotra said.
Following Nirmala’s questioning, a child abducted in October 2024 was recovered.
On February 4, police arrested the fourth member, Kanta Bujhel, aka Dr Priya.
“She used her medical background (as a nurse) and IVF clinic contacts to introduce childless couples to trafficked infants… She arranged illegal adoptions by misrepresenting the kidnapped children as abandoned,” DCP Malhotra said.
After her questioning, a four-month-old female child, abducted earlier this year, was recovered.
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