Kidnapped baby boy sold for Rs 5 lakh, recovered

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 7

Members of an industrialist’s family from Chandigarh and a trader’s wife from Ambala are among eight persons arrested for the kidnapping of a toddler, who was allegedly sold for Rs 5 lakh.

The gang posed as government staff engaged in enrolment for government schemes and was eyeing a boy following a deal with a Chandigarh-based couple.

Gurmeet Chauhan, SSP, Patiala, said the gang lured poor people by distributing ration and cash among them claiming to be officials of government departments and took patients to Rajindra Hospital for a health check-up free of cost. “A fortnight ago, they abducted two-month-old Ashveen, son of Bashan Singh, hailing from Mundikota district in Nagpur and residing in the tractor market,” he said.

The police today arrested eight persons and recovered the child kidnapped by three women while distributing Rs 5,000 among newborn girls and Rs 1,000 among newborn boys under the Shagun scheme. “The women sold the kidnapped baby boy to a Chandigarh-based couple for Rs 5 lakh,” said the police.

The case was cracked with the help of CCTV footage. “The Chandigarh-based industrialist’s family wanted a son and got in touch with the kidnappers. Two of the women arrested in the case have a criminal background,” said Chauhan.

On October 21, the accused women lured the poor family by giving cash under the Shagun scheme and zeroed in on the male child in the tractor market slum. “They took the victim and his parents to a government hospital from where they took the baby boy to a gurdwara on the pretext of getting his clothes changed and then fled,” said Patiala SP (D) Harwinder Virk.

“Rimpi, alias Komal Gupta, and her husband Anurag Gupta, residents of Sector 32, Chandigarh, bought the abducted child for Rs 5 lakh as they only had daughters. They wanted a son at any cost for which they allegedly stuck this deal,” said CIA in-charge Bikram Brar.

Those arrested are Neetu, alias Varinder Khanna, of Jhorian Bhatian, Patiala, her daughter Shifali, alias Shaily, who did her MBA from London, Vimal, alias Baby, her husband Harwinder Singh Kohli, a resident of Bahera Road, Patiala, Komal, a resident of Arya Samaj, Patiala, Rimpi, alias Komal Gupta, and her husband Anurag Gupta of Sector 32, Chandigarh, who bought the abducted child from the abductors and middleman Dimple Jain of Pooja Vihar, Ambala.

Parents in tears

Parents of the boy were in tears when they met their son on Monday morning in the Police Lines. They said they lived in a slum and had lost hope of getting their child back. “Last week, when the police recovered a child from an influential background, we thought the police were only for the rich. However, when a policeman reached our slum in the morning and informed us about the recovery our child, we were elated,” said the parents of the child.