Bhubaneswar: A 22-day-old infant boy who was allegedly sold by his parents was rescued by the police and at least six persons, including the adoptive couple were detained in Bhubaneswar for their involvement in the incident.
"Police have rescued the child who was allegedly sold by his parents for money. We are verifying the charges against them. No case has so far been registered in this matter," Assistant Commissioner of Police, PK Rath said.
Those detained comprise the infant's biological and adoptive parents and two other persons who had arranged the alleged sale. Khurda district administration has started an investigation into the incident, official sources said.
The matter came to light after a counsellor of a Bhubaneswar-based social organisation lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday seeking necessary steps to rescue three children allegedly sold by their parents for money, police said.
The counsellor of Ruchika Childline, Rulina Patra had alleged that a couple who were daily wage earners and lived in a slum in the city are the biological parents of seven children.
While two of their offsprings are dead, three of their sons have been sold to different persons in the past for money. The complaint claimed that the couple had sold one of their sons to a couple in Kolkata and the other two in Odisha.
The infant boy, their youngest offspring, was allegedly sold for Rs 6,000 to a couple from Samastipur in Bihar staying in Odisha, the police said.
"We rescued the infant from a person who is a pani-puri vendor and his wife from Jagatsinghpur," Rath said.
The infant's biological parents and the couple who allegedly bought him are being interrogated, the ACP said. The biological father of the children has confessed to having handed over the infant to the adoptive family but refused to say whether there was any monetary transaction in relation to it.
"I am a poor man and unable to feed my children. I handed over one child for proper care," he said.
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