5 infants rescued from gang, police struggle to trace kin

Gurgaon: Five toddlers have been rescued from the gang of child traffickers that was busted with the help of an alert cab driver in the city a few weeks ago. But no one has come forward to claim or adopt these babies, who are at a child care centre in the city.
The police have so far arrested 14 members of the gang, which was active across Delhi-NCR for the past eight years. Of the five infants that the cops have rescued, four are girls.
The gang, the police said, would buy babies from poor couples who could not afford to raise them.
The price of the infant depended on the skin colour and facial features — a fair baby, for instance, would cost more than one with a dark complexion.
Once the babies were identified, their pictures would be circulated among gang members in various states. These gang members would, in turn, get in touch with childless couples or communities that raise children for street performances. Most of these babies would be sold to such communities in Rajasthan, the police said. The gang trafficked more baby girls than boys because of its connection to sex trade rackets, according to the police.
The cops said they were trying to trace the biological parents of the infants. “We have rescued the babies, but no one has come forward to claim them. They are at a child care centre now,” said Manoj Kumar, the station house officer of DLF Phase 3 police station.
Covers were lifted off the trafficking gang on January 8, when an alert cab driver from the city had driven straight to the DLF 3 police station and got three of the members arrested. The cabbie had suspected something amiss after overhearing a telephonic conversation between one of the woman members and a possible couple who wanted to buy an infant. The deal, though, fell through.
That day, the three persons had stopped Umesh Lohia’s cab near Dhaula Kuan in Delhi and asked him for a lift to IFFCO Chowk. Lohia, who was anyway returning home to Nathupur in the city, agreed as the two women had a newborn each in their arms and it was drizzling. Just a few minutes into the ride, the two women — who were seated in the back — asked Lohia if he could drop them to Alwar in Rajasthan. The cabbie agreed, saying it could cost them Rs 3,000. A little later, one of the women asked him to drop them back to Delhi from Alwar and take Rs 4,000 for the round trip.
Kumar said the three who were nabbed on the first day were identified as Neha, Surender Kaur and Harjinder. Two more women were arrested the next day. So far, 14 gang members have been arrested. “There are more gang members who are still on the run. We are trying to trace them,” the SHO said.
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