Mumbai police nab dentist from Kolkata for trafficking; rescue two children       

Mumbai police have arrested a woman dentist from Kolkata in connection with the trafficking of two children, an official said on Saturday.

A team from the Wadala Truck Terminus police station apprehended the accused, Reshma Santosh Kumar Banerjee, last week and rescued a two-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl in the operation, the official said.

According to the police, a contractor had approached them with a complaint in May 2024 about the abduction of his son-in-law and toddler grandson.

The official said a probe revealed that the complainant's son-in-law had sold the child for Rs 1.6 lakh to the accused, Asma Shaikh, Sharif Shaikh and Asha Pawar.

He said the police subsequently arrested the child's father and the three other accused, who informed the police that they had sold the boy to a woman at Bhubaneswar railway station in Odisha.

On April 5 this year, the police received information that the woman worked at a dental hospital in Bhubaneshwar, and upon reaching the city, they found out about her identity and whereabouts in Kolkata.

The police nabbed the accused woman and rescued the complainant's grandson and an unidentified three-year-old girl.

The official said the accused woman and children were brought to Mumbai, and she was placed under arrest on April 13.