Mumbai: How most-wanted baby snatcher had free run

Wanted in two human trafficking cases 35yearold Julia Fernandez had been brazenly running a babyselling racket from her SionKoliwada nursing home for the past seveneight years the police said She was caught last month selling a 15dayold girl after a Pune resident raised the red flag The Mumbai Crime Branch is now probing whether she conducted abortionsJulia faces four more human trafficking cases that are registered at Mankhurd police station Wadala TT police station Bandra police station and Mahatma Phule police station in Kalyan On July 31 the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police department arrested her accomplice Shabana Shaikh 30 too One of Julias victims is fighting a legal battle to get back her son who was snatched and sold about a year backldquoDespite being most wanted in two human trafficking cases she had been running her babyselling shop from SionKoliwada for seveneight years Our team nabbed her on July 31 from her nursing home in SionKoliwadardquo said an officerThe rescued child is at Mahalaxmibased Bal Asha Trust a charitable organisation that helps abandoned and destitute children in Mumbai ldquoThe baby is healthy My nurses are taking care of her We will also do further tests and initiate adoption process if neededrdquo Vaishali Bhakte a social worker from the trust told middayComplaint from PuneJayprakash Jadhav the complainant in the case told midday that a ldquoneedy couplerdquo told him that newborns were being sold in Mumbai ldquoA couple came to enquire about the adoption procedure and I explained to them the legal procedure But they were shocked with the lengthy process The couple then told me casually that they had enquired about in Mumbai and an adoption centre is ready to give them a child in exchange for moneyrdquo said Jadhav who works in a legal team of a child adoption centre in PuneThe WhatsApp conversation between complainant and JulialdquoI managed to get the number of the Mumbai adoption centre and called as a customer A woman Julia answered the call and told me that I needed to pay R45 lakh if I wanted a child This was alarming as one does not need to pay a single penny to legally adopt a childrdquo he saidJadhav immediately alerted the Women and Child Development Department Pune and later the Mumbai Crime Branch was alerted He even came to Mumbai to assist the policeManoj Sutar an inspector of the social service branch laid a trap and a woman police constable posing as Jadhavs wife went to SionKoliwada to meet Julia She had shared the address to Ahana Nursing Home during their WhatsApp conversationsldquoShe would often switch to WhatsApp calls so that the conversation is not recorded Before coming to Mumbai I told her that I will leave Pune next morning and keep updating my location on WhatsApp This is how I kept her hooked on WhatsApp chat to maintain a record She also told me that the payment was to be done in cashrdquo Jadhav told middayThe cops with the rescued childCode wordThe Crime Branch sleuths in plain clothes surrounded the SionKoliwada areaThe constable had discretely kept her call with Sutar going I had asked my undercover constable to say a code word lsquobaccha kitna sundar hairsquo once the baby is in her possession But Julia is a clever woman After the meeting she first checked the cash bag and then told them to get a thermos bottle a milk bottle etc for the babyrdquo Sutar told middayAs Jadhav and the constable left to buy the things she had asked Julia scanned the area to check if police were around Once they returned to the nursing home Shaikh brought the babyThe constable took the baby girl and said the code word and Sutar and his team entered Ahana Nursing Home and nabbed the duoShabana Shaikh Julia accomplicePolice said the nursing home also had an illegal operation theatre ldquoShe also runs an illegal sperm donor racket at the nursing home We are also investigating if she is involved in illegal abortion We have written a letter to the local medical officer of health to know if Julia had the licence to run the nursing homerdquo Sutar saidldquoShe had been running this racket in the garb of a charitable trust We have written to the charity commissioner to delist her organisation and take legal action against herrdquo he addedPolice did not get the opportunity to interrogate Julia as a court sent her to judicial remand She was imprisoned at Byculla jail until Mahatma Phule police secured her custody for interrogation in the case registered with themCrime Branchs unit 9 will also seek her custodylsquoJulia snatched her babyrsquoSources said an Ulhasnagar resident is also fighting a legal battle against Julia who allegedly snatched her baby boy last year and sold him The woman was unmarried when she delivered the child Hence Julia got in touch with her won her trust then emotionally blackmailed her and snatched her babyThe woman married the father of the child a few months later and has been fighting to get her child back said sources