Baby Selling Rackets Busted In Telangana

Hyderabad: Police on Thursday busted a baby selling racket in various places in Telangana and doctor and some of the couples who are involved in the issue arrested.

A doctor from Kuravi in Khammam district was arrested for selling babies in the town and nearby places. The incident came to light when the police have come to know about a couple who had adopted a baby five months ago illegally. The police inquired the couple and arrested Dr. R. Srinivas from Swetha Nursing Home who was responsible for the illegal adoption.

The accused Srinivas, a native of Warangal settled in Khammam and established the nursing home five years ago. He would sell the babies of tribal women and other poor families who thought of children as a burden. Taking advantage of the situation in rural areas, Srinivas planned to make a quick buck by mediating the illegal adoptions. He would counsel the woman who came to him for treatment and sell their babies with their consent. After investigating about the doctor, the police found that nearly seven babies were sold by him. The police traced the babies and took them back from the adopted parents and sent to Khammam Shishu Gruha.

Another racket busted in Vikarabad when the police in the town found that a couple in the village had adopted a baby for Rs8000. Around seven months ago, B. Lalamma and B. Jaiappa, residents of Karankota in the state’s Vikarabad district, sold their one-and-a-half month old son to another couple, Vijaya and Bhoopathi, based in Tandur town. According to the police, the couple were tricked by an NGO and found that the two accused acted as agents and sold the boy for Rs8000 to the couple in Tandur. The police arrested B. Lalamma and B. Jaiappa for selling their baby illegally.

"Incidents of infanticide have become very common in the state and 11 such cases of throwing infants in sewers, bushes and tanks have taken place in and around Hyderabad over the past three months," Balala Hakkula Sangam, a child rights organization said. The association had demanded that the ‘Ooyala’, or cradle baby scheme, be reinstated in the state to stop infanticide.