Police Suspect More Than 200 Children Sold In Child Trafficking Case

VISAKHAPATNAM: More shocking details have emerged about the fraudulent activities in Srushti Hospital that is allegedly involved in the child trafficking case.

Police have intensified investigation into the case and found that about 56 births have taken place in the past one-and-a-half years at the Visakhapatnam branch alone. Police are suspecting that the newborn babies were sold to other people.

Meanwhile, GVMC was misled by the fraudsters by creating fake documents. Universal Shrusti Hospital Managing Director (MD) Dr. Namratha had played a key role in the case, police said.

Police said that Dr. Namrata has created a huge network in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Odisha in the name of free medical camps to provide treatment for pregnancy in the areas. She appointed agents to ASHA workers and laid a trap for pregnant women. They used to make free deliveries to pregnant women without exposing their irregularities. After the delivery, the newborn baby was taken from the women after paying them Rs 1-2 lakhs, the police found out during the probe into the case.

Police suspect that they had sold more than 200 children from five branches in the span of one year.

More details would be revealed after investigating the hospital's MD Dr. Namratha, pertaining to the case, police stated.

The police will be filing a petition to take Dr.Namratha into their custody for further investigation. Searches will also be conducted at the branches located at Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, police said.