Delhi toddler sold for Rs 45,000 rescued from UP; 4 held, minor apprehended

Family Slept On Pavement

According to the police, the child’s father, Mukesh, who hails from Rajasthan, had come to Delhi with his family to sell handicraft items at a festival fair at Desh Bandhu Gupta Road. The family slept on the footpath near Ganga Ram Hospital after the day’s work. On the morning of September 24, Mukesh woke up to find his son missing, the police said.

A case was registered at Delhi’s Karol Bagh police station, and a team was formed to trace the boy.

Investigators said they examined footage from more than 100 CCTV cameras across central Delhi. Around 4 am, two men on a Scooty were seen with the child on Pusa Road, with the number plate concealed, the police said. The vehicle was tracked through Rajender Nagar, DBG Road, Connaught Place, Mandir Marg, and Paharganj before it was spotted near RML Hospital, where the suspects transferred the child into a white Nissan Magnite, the police said.

The car was later identified as belonging to a resident of Kali Bari Lane. The police laid a trap and arrested Anant, 22, Raju, 24, and Sahil Kumar, 21. They also apprehended a 17-year-old. During interrogation, the four allegedly revealed that the boy had been sold to one Santosh Srivas, 54, in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh. A raid was conducted there, and the child was rescued unharmed. Srivas, who had allegedly bought the boy, was also arrested.

The police said Srivas, who has two daughters, had told the accused he was willing to pay up to Rs 1 lakh for a male child. “On this assurance, the accused conspired to abduct a child. They sold him to Srivas for Rs 45,000. The buyer intended to raise him as his own son,” said Nidhin Valsan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central.