Tumkur: The Karnataka Police have unearthed a network involved in child trafficking and rescued five kids from Tumkur, police said on Wednesday. Also, police have arrested seven people, who are allegedly involved in kidnapping and selling off children to childless couples or employing them as child labourers.
The accused have been identified as Mahesh U.D, Mahbub, K.N. Ramakrishnappa, Hanumantharaju, Mubarak Pasha, Purnima and Saujanya. A Maruti 800 car, Rs 50,000 cash and four mobile phones were seized from the accused, police said.
On June 9, a complaint was filed at Gopi police station about abduction of an 11-month-old child, who was sleeping with his family near a temple in Mahadevi area near Anthapura in Gubbi taluk. A special police team was set up to investigate the case.
The team arrested Ramakrishna, a resident of Bikkegudda in Gubbi taluk, and Hanumantharaju, a resident of Bharati Nagar in Tumkur, on charges of kidnapping the child. Based on information provided by him, another accused, Mahesh UD, a resident of Ashoka Nagar, who previously working as a nurse at Kunigal Government Hospital, was arrested.
During interrogation, it came to light that the accused had sold the child to Mubarak of Bellur Cross for Rs 1,75,000. Later police arrested Mubarak and rescued the child. Police said Mahesh, one of the accused, used to look for unmarried pregnant women and get them to hand over their children to them. These kids were later sold to childless couples for Rs 2 to 3 lakh, police said.
Among the five rescued children, one was handed over to its parents. The rest have been sent to an adoption centre on the orders of the Child Welfare Committee.
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