Baby-selling racket: CB-CID probe shows sale of 30 babies

Chennai: The Crime Branch, CID, wing of Tamil Nadu police probing a baby-selling racket in Namakkal on Friday said buyers as well as middlemen would be brought under the probe ambit, even as the investigation revealed sale of 30 newborns.

“Following the probe done so far, it has emerged that a total of 30 newborns including 24 girls have been sold,” a CB-CID media release here said. It did not however mention the period when the racket happened.

A retired nurse and an ambulance driver are among those arrested in connection with the matter. Widening its probe, the special investigation wing will now bring the parents of the children as well as the ‘buyers,’ besides middlemen, under the probe ambit, the release said.

Steps have been taken to hold enquiries with parents of the children, the middlemen, as well as those who allegedly “bought” the newborns, it added.

The issue came to light after the police took up the probe into the authenticity of an audio clip where the culprit ex-nurse had told a man, who pretended to be prospective buyer, that she had been selling babies for the last 30 years. She had got into the business after opting for voluntary retirement ten years ago and “by God’s grace, had never got into trouble”. With the audio clip going viral and drawing all-round shock and condemnation, state health secretary Beela Rajesh instructed the Director of the Health and Rural Welfare department to look into the ex-nurse’s claim. Later the case was transferred from  district police to the CB-CID on April 29 for “expert handling”.