Ashram head sold babies of six unwed mothers: cops

This was revealed during the interrogation of Sanjivkumar Kashinath Bhate (45),a doctor from Hadapsar,who was arrested on June 11 along with Dr Nandakumar Prakash Nalawade (37) of Manjari and Rajan Kusalkar (21) of Market Yard.

According to the police,Dr Bhate,who operated the Om Shri Vishwadarshan Seva Sanstha,also worked at Dr Nalawade’s maternity home in Manjari. During interrogation,Bhate reportedly told the police that Yanmal had earlier got the six women to the Sanstha. He took the pregnant women to Nalawde’s maternity home for delivery. Nalawade,however,has not kept any record of these women.

Police suspect that Yanmal and his accomplices sold the babies born to these unwed mothers to couples who wanted to adopt.

The suspects also prepared fake birth certificates of the babies. The racket came to light after a police complaint was lodged by Anita and Arun Yadav whose baby they had adopted from Yanmal in March 2009 died of AIDS in December.

Meanwhile,on Monday,Judicial Magistrate (first class) S M Padolikar remanded Bhate,Nalawade and Kusalkar in magisterial custody. Inspector Vishwanath Ghanwat of Yerwada police station produced the suspects in court and sought an extension of their police custody.

The police submitted before the court that Yanmal and Bhate had brought the six women to Nalawade’s maternity home for delivery. Since Kusalkar was working with Yanmal,he is aware of the illegal adoptions at the ashram. The police further said that custodial interrogation of the suspects was required to know the details of the couples who have adopted/ purchased babies from Yanmal.

When contacted,inspector Ghanwat said that so far they have got the names of two unwed mothers whose babies were allegedly sold by Yanmal. “We cannot share more details as investigation is at a crucial stage,” he said.