The Hindu : Front Page : Child swapping racket busted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Child swapping racket busted

Staff Reporter

Photo: R. RAJU

Innocent victims: The infants rescued by Medipalli police on Tuesday.

KARIMNAGAR: The Medipalli police have busted a child swapping racket involving the sale of newborns to childless couples with the arrest of a midwife Sameena (32) and her mother. Seven infants were rescued by the police.

Disclosing this to newsmen on Tuesday, Jagtial DSP T. Laxminarsaiah said that the incident came to light when Sameena sold a baby boy delivered by a woman named Swaroopa to a childless woman Radha for Rs. 20,000 in Medpalli mandal headquarters last Thursday. Sameena, under whose supervision Swaroopa delivered the baby, made the latter believe that her child died due to an ailment.

But she grew suspicious and informed the police. Medipalli SI Venkateshwarlu rescued the baby boy from Radha and handed him over to Swaroopa. Following interrogation, Sameena had confessed to committing the crime of swapping six other children, including one female and five male newborns.

Taking advantage of the unmarried girls delivering babies, she started the trade of child swapping two years ago and earned about Rs. 4 lakh. She started with the sale of a newborn boy in Vempalli village of Mallapur mandal for Rs 30,000.

She sold another boy for Rs. 45,000 in Vemulakurthi village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal. An Orissa woman labourer handed over her newborn boy to Sameena who sold the baby to M. Ganga Reddy of Satharam village of Mallapur mandal for a whopping Rs 1.5 lakh.

Sameena’s husband rejected her and migrated to Mumbai. She is living with her four children.

The police rescued the children and handed them over to Sadhar, a voluntary organisation in Karimnagar town, for temporary custody. The childless couples, who purchased the children, were told to reclaim their children through court.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page