Woman Allegedly Attempts To Sell Her 1-Month-Old Girl Child For Over $26,000, Arrested

A woman and her three accomplices in India were arrested for allegedly trying to sell her 1-month-old baby for $26,764.415 (INR 2 lacs).

The arrests were made Saturday in the capital city of New Delhi after the authorities received a tip-off about such a racket, headed by a person identified as Praveen Khatoon, trying to sell minor children.

Delhi police officer Lalit Kumar and his team -- in their bid to save the girl child from trafficking -- posed as fake customers and tried to fix a deal to purchase the baby, NDTV reported. The baby's mother, 30-year-old Madhu Singh, Khatoon and her aides -- Santosh and Satish -- were arrested by the authorities.

Singh, a resident of Uttam Nagar, tried to strike the deal with alleged brokers. The authorities told NDTV two police personnel -- identified as Rakesh and Anju -- presented themselves as a couple to the mother, and after the completion of the initial procedures, they were introduced to Khatoon and Satish. The latter told the officials Santosh would arrange for a minor child in a place named Mangolpuri.

The police personnel were then met with Singh, Santosh, and the baby at Mangolpuri. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sagar Singh Kalsi told the outlet the police personnel then lured them to another area under the pretext of making the full payment. They paid one third of the amount there.

"Khatoon kept INR 10,000 as her share and then handed over INR 30,000 to Singh, INR 4,000 to Satish, INR 6,000 to Santosh," Kalsi told the outlet. "After receiving the amount, accused Singh handed over the child to constable Anju, following which constable Rakesh alerted his staff who nabbed all the four accused and recovered the amount from their possession."

"During interrogation, Khatoon and Santosh were operating the gang of selling and purchasing of minor child. They searched for people who intended to buy their children for money and made arrangements to sell them, and Madhu Singh wanted to sell her child for money," Kalsi was quoted by The Times of India, as saying.

Singh reportedly used to work as a house help earlier, and had lost her job during the COVID-19 lockdown. She told the deputies she has four children and had given birth to the youngest one in December. She added her husband was also not earning well and they weren't capable of raising another child.

Deputies have recovered a dozen more photos of children from Khatoon's mobile, and are looking for two more people involved in the racket.