Delhi Police link rape victim to child selling racket, accused held

An officer said they tracked down the 16-year-old mother while investigating the suspected baby-selling racket, and arrested a man staying in the same locality for raping her. DCP (outer) Seju P Kuruvilla confirmed that a case of rape has been filed and the accused has been arrested. As reported by The Indian Express, after police got a tip-off about the alleged racket in the capital, two officers went undercover as parents and eventually arrested Mohammad Jahangir, an accused who had handed over the newborn to them.

Sources said that during investigation, police reached out to the baby’s mother, who turned out to be a minor. “She told us that she was raped by a man and got pregnant. Since she did not want to keep the child, she handed him over to a relative, who promised to send the child to a shelter home. She did not know how the baby reached Jahangir,” said a police source.

According to a police officer, the child was first rushed to a Delhi government hospital after he was handed over to the cops. He was later referred to Kalawati Saran Hospital, but died there on August 26. In the meantime, Crime Branch officers also informed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) about the recovery of the child. During the course of the investigation, three more children were recovered, who had been allegedly sold by members involved in the racket.

Of them, two are lodged in a children’s shelter home. The third child, aged 2, has been allowed to stay with the family that “purchased” him — after a city court passed an order on humanitarian grounds, police said.

A staff member at the children’s shelter home, located in north Delhi, confirmed that they have got a one-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl, who are both doing fine. “A third child was supposed to come here but the Crime Branch informed us that he died during treatment,” said a staff member. Police said the post-mortem examination of the baby was conducted on Friday, and the report is awaited.

According to an investigating officer, police are also probing the involvement of a south Delhi-based IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) clinic, whose owner is on the run, and staff members in hospitals and clinics who helped identify people willing to make such a purchase.

Among those arrested is a 40-year-old woman who had facilitated the “purchase” of a newborn, an officer said. The manager of the IVF clinic has also been arrested. The officer said the accused would promise couples a child without the hassle of dealing with lengthy official procedures.