The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Crime Branch Unit-2 jointly busted a baby-selling ring and detained seven individuals, one of whom was a BHMS doctor with a Diva address. The Indra and Doshi hospitals in Thane were the hubs for such operations.
Police discovered during the inquiry that this group had sold 14 children; of which, three were girls and 11 were boys. The children were born in Mumbai and vary in age from eight months to two-and-a-half years.
It is pertinent to note that Police rescued the two girls and brought them to Asha Trust in Mahalaxmi. They are also attempting to tracking down 12 other children who were sold in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The alleged agents, who are facing charges, have been identified as Sharad Maruti Devar, 45; Nasima Hanif Khan, 28; Lata Nanabhau Survade, 36; Vandana Pawar, 27; Shital Ganesh Ware, 41; Sneha Yuvraj Suryavanshi, 24; and BHMS doctor Sanjay Sopanrao Khandare, 42, who manages the Nileshwari Clinic at Diva Junction.
Police authorities on April 27 said, Crime Branch Unit 2 received a tip regarding Kanta Pednekar, a lady from Kannamwar Nagar in Vikhroli, who sold her five-month-old infant to childless parents in Ratnagiri for INR 2 lakh on December 13, 2022.
Soon after Senior Inspector Dilip Tejankar from Unit 2 received the information from his source, they formed an investigating team.
DCP Ragasudha R, who was recently transferred from Parbhani district in Maharashtra, is in charge of the case.
Authorities discovered that Pednekar had sold her child at Govandi to agent Shital Ware. Agent Ware told police that she had sold the child at Diva Junction to Sanjay Khandare, a BHMS doctor. The physician then got in touch with agent Vandana Amit Pawar, who sold the child to Ratnagiri's childless couple.
The agents were at fertility clinics, where lot of couples go to become surrogate parents. For individuals who were unable to procreate, the agents offered children on sale.
Under interrogation, accused agent Shital Ware disclosed that with the assistance of agents Sharad Devar and Sneha Suryavanshi, she had sold another two-year-old child for INR 2.50 lakh. The girl was sold from Malad to a childless couple in Nalasopara, the police learned.
Police discovered throughout the investigation that the Malad-based woman had two children and had wished for a male, but had given birth to a girl instead. The woman was approached by Agent Shital, who offered to buy her third daughter for INR 80,000.
They also tracked down that the accused had been in charge of this operation since September 2022. Following their court appearances, all accused were placed under five days remand in the Crime Branch. In this case, three further suspects have been placed under arrest.
According to an officer, the agents were going after low-income individuals, residing in slums, who wanted money in exchange for selling their children.
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