Five-member child trafficking gang busted, 3 infants rescued
- Vijayawada task force personnel, Nunna police carry out raid at Prakash Nagar, arrest the women and rescue the infants
- CP Rajasekhara Babu says the gang purchases infants for Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh elsewhere and sells them at Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh
- Police are gathering information on the sale of four babies and the buyers
Vijayawada : Vijayawada city task force police and Nunna police in a joint operation apprehended a five-member women child trafficking gang at Prakash Nagar under the limits of Nunna police station and rescued three infants.
The gang purchase babies for Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh and sell each one at around Rs 4-5 lakh to the childless couples. The gang so far sold four babies and are preparing to sell three more. Vijayawada commissioner of police S V Rajasekhara Babu told the media on Saturday that the gang targets the childless couples and sells children to them to make easy money.
He identified the arrested members of the gang as Bagalam Sarojini of Sitara junction, Shaik Fareena and Shaik Saidabi of Ajit Singh Nagar, Kovvarapu Karunasri and Pedala Sirisha of Prakash Nagar.
The main accused Sarojini purchases babies from Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and sells to the childless couples. Shaik Fareena and Shaik Saidabi take the responsibility of trafficking the children and Pedala Sirisha and Karunasri take care of the children at their homes.
Gang leader Sarojini visits fertility centres and talks to the issueless couples, strikes a bargain and sells infants to them for Rs 4 to Rs 5 lakh for each baby.
Sarojini was earlier arrested on charges of child trafficking and later released on bail. CP Rajasekhara Babu said Sarojini did not change her ways and continued child trafficking after release. She purchased seven children in the last six months and has sold four of them so far while three babies yet to be sold. Sarojini has contacts with child trafficking teams of Ahmedabad, Delhi and Hyderabad and manages to buy and sell the babies.
The police on a tip-off visited Prakash Nagar and nabbed the five accused and rescued three babies on Saturday.
The commissioner of police said the police are collecting information on the sale of four babies and the buyers. He said the rescued babies are handed over to the women and child welfare department for care and later will be handed over to the parents after the investigation.
Rajasekhara Babu said the task force and Nunna police have registered case with Crime No78/2025 U/s 142 BNS 81,87 of Juvenile Justice Act. Under the supervision of task force ADCP A Srinivasa Rao and guidance of ACP K Lalitha Kumar and Sravanthi Roy, the task force and Nunna police arrested the gang.
