Mother Allegedly Sells Newborn Baby For $7,000 At Behest Of Second Husband

A woman in India was arrested for allegedly selling her newborn baby at the behest of her second husband for $7,000.

The incident took place in Indore, a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The police also held the buyer, identified as Leena, along with those who had helped them carry out the purchase of the child.

The cops said the woman, identified as Shaina B, was pregnant when she got married to Antar Singh.

"Antar Singh wanted to get the child aborted but it could not happen. After this, Singh hatched a plan to sell the child," Hira Nagar police station officer Satish Patel told NDTV. "When the child was born, he was sold within 15 days to Leena, a resident of Dewas for 5.5 lakh ($7,000) via touts. Two months after this incident, we got the information about the matter from an informer."

Four others, identified as Neha Suryavanshi, Pooja Verma, Neha Verma, Neelam Verma, who were involved in helping Shaina sell her child were also taken into custody.

Authorities have filed a human trafficking case against all the accused. The police said Shaina's husband, Singh, was currently absconding, and a search was underway, India Today reported.

It remains unclear how the police got to know about the shocking incident.

In a similar case last month, two fake doctors were arrested for trying to sell a 3-day-old baby through WhatsApp. The incident came to light after the message was seen by a child welfare outfit after it went viral. The text message read: "Female baby. 3 kgs. 3 lakhs ($3,800). The birth certificate comes with our own surname." The message also contained videos and images of the baby girl. The main accused in the case was identified as Chavali Amrutha Rao who lived in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

In another case in the Indian state of Odisha, a 2-month-old baby boy was allegedly sold by a private clinic. The child's father alleged the clinic sold off the baby for non-payment of treatment charges. The clinic, however, claimed the newborn died while being under treatment.