A significant breakthrough in the fight against child trafficking has been achieved as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) busted an extensive trafficking syndicate on Friday night, saving two newborns, one just 15 days old and the other only two days old. This operation has led to the detention of seven individuals suspected of participating in the illegal sale of newborn babies to childless couples through advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.
The concerted effort by the CBI saw raids conducted at seven different locations across Delhi and Haryana. In what can be described as a dramatic rescue, the operation culminated with three newborns found and seven suspects apprehended from a house in Delhi’s Keshavpuram neighborhood. The rescued infants include two boys aged one and a half days and fifteen days, respectively, and a baby girl around one month old. According to CBI officials, these babies were either abducted from various places or secured for the express purpose of being sold. Among those apprehended were the prospective buyers and a woman who facilitated these illicit transactions.
The culprits were swiftly produced in court, and seven of them have been remanded to CBI custody as the investigation unfolds. CBI sources have identified Indu and Neeraj as the ringleaders of this nefarious operation. Reports suggest that this network exploited vulnerable parents or surrogate mothers in hospitals, afterwards, leveraging social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp to identify potential adoptive parents. The network then forged all necessary adoption documents to legitimize these illegal transactions.
The scale of this underground operation is staggering. The CBI reported that the traffickers sold each infant for a sum between Rs 4 and Rs 6 lakh, treating the babies as mere commodities. Sources intimated that approximately ten infants were trafficked by this network in the past month alone. The illegal activities extend beyond the Delhi NCR region and have implicated employees from prestigious hospitals in various states. Alarmingly, the mastermind orchestrating this racket has been identified as a government official, purportedly an Assistant Labour Commissioner.
The CBI is diligently continuing its investigation into this vast child trafficking network and expects to uncover more details in the days to come. It’s anticipated that additional arrests will follow, especially of other individuals linked to different hospitals, as the investigation deepens. Already, several people, including a hospital ward boy, have been taken into custody, hinting at the potentially vast reach of this criminal syndicate.
Anchor Ram Mohan Sharma, of Zee News, provided an in-depth analysis of the ‘Modus Operandi’ of this child trafficking network during today’s DNA TV show. Sharma elucidated how the syndicate operated with a chilling precision. The traffickers primarily targeted unsuspecting parents or took advantage of desperate surrogate mothers in hospitals, greatly profiting from their precarious situations. Adopting the guise of health professionals, they approached vulnerable parents post-childbirth, subsequently offering or coercing them into handing over their newborns. The crime ring then employed social media as a hunting ground, posting carefully crafted adoption advertisements designed to reach out to childless couples yearning to adopt.
Once contact was made with potential buyers, the criminals engaged in a meticulous process of forging adoption documents to provide a veneer of legitimacy to their deeds. This intricate process included creating counterfeit birth certificates and fraudulent legal adoption paperwork, ensuring the transaction appeared genuine and above-board. The buyers, desperate to adopt and believing in the apparent legality of the process, unwittingly abetted in the trafficking operation.
The story does not end there; the activities of this syndicate also raise disquieting concerns about the involvement of personnel from various hospitals extending into different states. The participation of healthcare staff from reputed institutions suggests a broad and intricate network, rendering the scope of this investigation even more alarming.
This expose has cast a stark light on the pressing issue of child trafficking in India. The commendable efforts of the CBI in breaking up this network represent a significant stride towards eradicating such heinous crimes. As more details emerge and additional arrests are made, it is hoped that the full extent of this syndicate’s operations will be revealed, ensuring that justice is served and more lives are saved from such predatory schemes.
