Indian Grandparents sold Baby Grandson for Rs 4 Lakhs

Two grandparents from Meerapur, Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested for selling their baby grandson for Rs. 4 Lakhs (£4,500).

Their arrests led to the discovery of a child trafficking gang operating within the city and seven members were also arrested.

Sikhai and Krishna Ram were responsible for selling the baby.

They had taken the child to Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, Punjab, by claiming it was for a checkup. Upon reaching there, they met a ward attendant and sold the child.

Sikhai later told the baby’s father that his son had been kidnapped by an unknown woman.

This prompted the father, Rakesh Kumar, to inform the hospital and the police about the abduction.

The investigation led to the arrests of the grandparents as well as seven child traffickers which included the ward attendant, identified as Saroj Bala.

SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu explained that Mr Kumar had told officers that his son was born in September 2019 and his name was Prince.

On October 2, 2019, the baby’s grandparents Sikhai and Krishna took him to a hospital for a checkup.

Based on what Sikhai told him, Mr Kumar told officers that an unknown woman abducted his son.

Officers filed a case and they later found out that the grandparents had signed a deal with the gang to sell their baby grandson for Rs. 4 Lakh. Police believed Bala to be the leader of the group.

Upon agreeing with Bala, she passed on the information to an accomplice named only as Barnala who later told her friend Kamlesh Mansa.

One member named Pankaj Goyal, of Sangrur, had said that they wanted a child.

This led to the grandparents handing over the child in exchange for the agreed sum of money.

Police officers established that Bala worked as an attendant in the children’s ward.

After Sikhai and his wife Krishna were arrested, police found more information about the gang and later arrested them.

The gang comprised of two men and five women. An eighth member of the group identified as Usha remains on the run. Officers are conducting raids in Amritsar in order to bring her to justice.

The baby boy was handed back to his parents and Rs. 1.94 Lakhs (£2,100) of the Rs. 4 Lakhs was recovered from the grandparents.

While those responsible remain in custody, police are continuing to interrogate them in order to gather more information about the child trafficking operation.