Chandigarh, April 7: Bahadurgarh police have rescued a three-day-old infant and dismantled an interstate trafficking network following the arrest of seven individuals across several states. The child, born to a daily wage-earning couple from Faridkot, Punjab, was reportedly sold to the gang for ₹2.25 lakh before being intercepted by authorities in Haryana.
Mayank Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Bahadurgarh, stated that the parents already had two children and struggled to provide basic necessities. “The couple’s concerns about limited resources led them to share their plight with a local acquaintance,” the DCP maintained, noting that the parents were falsely assured the child would be given a better life through a legitimate adoption process. The investigation revealed the gang intended to resell the infant to a Delhi-based family for ₹9.25 lakh.
The trafficking ring reportedly spans over 10 states, including Punjab, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. Police officials affirmed that the gang had established contact with the family even before the child’s birth. While the parents had initially considered an abortion, they were unable to proceed due to the permissible time limit having passed, leading them to fall prey to the traffickers’ promises of “monetary aid.”
DCP Mishra declared that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected as raids continue at various hideouts. “The couple was uneducated and unaware that the individuals they were in contact with were part of an infant trafficking gang,” the officer affirmed. Currently, seven suspects from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi remain in custody as the state machinery works to map the full extent of the syndicate.
