Five held in Thane for trying to sell 7-day-old baby for Rs 6 lakh

Police in Maharashtras Thane have exposed a human trafficking racket with the arrest of five persons trying to sell a 7dayold baby for Rs 6 lakh officials said on Friday reported news agency PTIActing on inputs the AntiHuman Trafficking Cell of the city police laid a trap near a hotel in the Badlapur West area on Wednesday night They used a decoy buyer to confirm that a group was indeed trying to sell a newborn an official saidThe gang was paid Rs 20000 via UPI as token money with the remaining balance of Rs 58 lakh to be paid in cash he said After being alerted by the decoy customer a police team reached the spot and arrested all five persons who had come for the deal reported PTIThe accused have been identified as Shankar Sambhaji Manohar 36 who accepted the cash Reshma Shahabuddin Shaikh 35 who had got the baby Igatpuribased agents Nitin Sambhaji Manohar 33 and Shekar Ganesh Jadhav 35 and Asif Chand Khan 27 an agent based in Mankhurd Mumbai reported PTIA sixth accomplice identified as Sabina is on the run and police are trying to trace her he saidA senior official from Badlapur West police station said The gang had connived to sell the newborn for Rs 6 lakh We suspect this is part of a much larger scam involving the kidnapping and sale of infants to childless couples We are trying to identify the biological mother reported PTIThe infant has been moved to a specialised care home Police are also investigating whether a wider network of hospitals or nursing homes is involved in supplying newborns to traffickers he addedAadhaar PAN card copies of job aspirants misused for financial transactions probe launchedIn another case the police in Maharashtras Thane district have launched a probe into alleged misuse of identity documents for financial transactions worth Rs 35 crore police said on Thursday reported PTIOver the past one and a half years accused Salma Sayyed and her associates collected Aadhaar PAN photographs and other identity documents of job aspirants by promising them wellpaid employment opportunities an official saidThese documents were later misused by forging signatures and creating firms and bank accounts without the knowledge of the victims he saidA company named Jaljyoti Enterprises was fraudulently registered in one mans name without his knowledge and current accounts were opened Financial transactions worth about Rs 35 crore were carried out through these bank accounts he said reported PTIThe 27yearold resident of the Ambernath area approached the police after learning about the misuse of his identity documentsSimilar companies were opened in the names of other victims as well resulting in massive financial transactions the official saidThe probe is underway to ascertain the full scope of the fraud and identify all those involved he addedWith inputs from PTI