Under pressure from in-laws, childless woman scouting for a kid ended up as a member of inter-state child selling racket; sold 4 kids
All accused are arrested under sections 370(4), 370(5), 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 81 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Crime branch officials are trying to trace and rescue the illegally sold children, another officer added.
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Arrested 63-year-old Manikamma Bhandari alias Amma, 63 is an estate agent from Chakala, Andheri (East), area, who is allegedly involved in selling one child. (Representational Image) The Mumbai Crime Branch busted an inter-state child selling racket over two days and arrested eight persons, including a woman, who “bought” a child for her and later sold four children on the pretext of adoption. The gang members revealed that they have sold at least eight children so far, police said.
Police busted the racket after discovering a Bandra (East) couple who had sold two of their children aged two years and on-month-old for money to buy drugs, officials said. The Crime Branch suspects that the gang, which sold kids in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, may have sold more children in the past.
According to officials, one of the arrested Vaishali Mahendra Phagaria alias Vaishali Rajesh Jain, 45, is a key member of the racket. A resident of Byculla’s Love Lane, she did not have a children. A one-year-old girl, who was allegedly bought by her businessman husband, was rescued from the house, they said.
The child has been handed over to the safe custody of Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Officials of unit-9 had first received information about two accused Shabbir Khan and his wife Saniya,who had sold their two-year-old boy Hussain in May 2022 for Rs 60,000 to a person. They later sold their another child to one Shakeel Makrani for Rs 14,000 last month.
Based on Shabbir’s sister’s complaint, a case was registered at the DN Nagar police station on Tuesday night and was transferred to the crime branch unit-9 as they had information that Shabbir and Saniya took the help of a professional inter-state child selling gang to sell their two kids. Shabbir and Saniya were then arrested.
Later, under the supervision of seniors, inspector Daya Nayak, Sachin Puranik, Deepak Pawar and their teams arrested Usha Rathod, 42, Shakil Makrani, 42, Manikamma Bhandari alias Amma, 63, Vaishali Jain, 45, Shafique Shaikh alias Sahil, 45 and Balkrushna Kamble, 33.
A probe revealed that Shabbir and Saniya sold their one-month-old girl child in October this year to Makrani, who is a Lightman by profession and a resident of Gaondevi dongri area in Andheri (west). Shabbir and Saniya had also sold their two-year-old boy Hussain to an unidentified person in Andheri in May 2022 via Vaishali Jain and Usha Rathod, who is a friend of their distant relative. Shabbir and Saniya received Rs 60,000 for Hussain, however, it is unclear how much money Jain and Rathod got, said an officer.
Arrested 63-year-old Manikamma Bhandari alias Amma, 63 is an estate agent from Chakala, Andheri (East), area, who is allegedly involved in selling one child.
The child rescued from Vaishali Jain’s Byculla house is the daughter of accused Balkrushna Kamble, 33, a Garbage Motor loader from Virar (East). He had sold his daughter to Jain via Shafique Shaikh alias Sahil, a rickshaw driver from Virar (East). Sahil is suspected to be another active and key member of the racket and believed to be involved in the selling of five kids. Kambale too was involved in selling kids to others,another officer said.
All accused are arrested under sections 370(4), 370(5), 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 81 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Crime branch officials are trying to trace and rescue the illegally sold children, another officer added.
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