Mother Attempts To Sell Newborn For $1.3 After Losing Husband, Job During Lockdown

A woman was caught while she was attempting to sell her newborn baby to a man at a gas station in the Indian city of Jamshedpur on Wednesday.

Police arrived at the gas station after receiving an anonymous tip saying that a woman was waiting there to handover her baby to a man. The officers caught the woman and managed to stop the sale of the child. The man who was supposed to buy the baby fled the scene as soon as he saw the officers.

The unidentified mother was detained for questioning. She told the investigators that she lost her job during the coronavirus lockdown and her husband too died soon after. She had no money to look after her baby and was left with no option but to sell the 10-day-old baby for $1.3.

"She told us that she gave birth to the child outside railway station as she could not afford hospital delivery," a source told local daily The Times of India.

The officers then handed over the mother and the child to an NGO.

"The child is safe and caregivers are looking after him. Anyone related to the child can stake claim through legal procedures within 60 days before we take its custody," Alok Bhaskar, a member of the NGO, told the newspaper.

Investigation into the incident was ongoing.

The incident comes months after a man was arrested after he sold his newborn daughter to a childless couple for $2,500 in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Yesuirudhayaraj, and his wife, Pushpalatha, were parents to two girls and a boy. Unhappy with the birth of another girl child, the man decided to sell the newborn to a childless couple, whom he had met through a broker. He then used the money to buy gold chain for his son and a phone for himself. The man was taken into custody.