The daughter-in-law of former Howrah deputy mayor Minati Adhikari is among ten people arrested in West Bengal’s Salkia for allegedly selling newborn babies from an adoption centre.
Image for representation (Photo: FILE)
The daughter-in-law of former Howrah deputy mayor Minati Adhikari and a state government official were arrested from Salkia in West Bengal for allegedly selling newborn babies from an adoption center, police said on Saturday.
Acting on complaints, Howrah City Police Commissioner C Sudhakar raided the ‘Cradle Baby Centre’ late on Friday night and arrested 10 people, including the woman who ran the adoption center for the last five years, and the West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS). officer, a senior official said.
He said that during the raids, the police took out many children from the private house.
“We had received several complaints against this NGO, including incidents of child molesting and selling of children under the guise of running a household.”
“An investigation team was constituted to look into the matter. They found several discrepancies, following which we made an arrest and registered a case under the POCSO Act,” the official told PTI.
He said further investigation is underway to find out whether the non-governmental organization (NGO) has links with the inter-state child-trafficking racket.
Read | Woman caught red handed in Delhi trying to sell baby for Rs 3.5 lakh
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