Vijayawada:Mangalagiri Town police arrested a couple for trying to sell a 15-day-old infant boy near Alfa Hotel Centre in Auto Nagar on the GB Road of Mangalagiri Town.
On receiving information, police took into custody Bommadi Uma Devi (35) and Eti Trinadh (35), both residents of Vagu Centre in Vijayawada City at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 28.
Mangalagiri Town sub-inspector P. Mahesh Kumar said they caught the couple red-handed while searching for potential buyers to sell the infant for ₹5 lakh.
Mangalagiri Town circle inspector Durgasi Vinod Kumar told Deccan Chronicle that following interrogation, Uma Devi and her husband Trinadh confessed to purchasing the infant boy for ₹4.60 lakh from one Sandeep and Divya in Hyderabad on October 15. They brought the kid to Mangalagiri and kept him with a woman Sahana while looking for a potential buyer.
The inspector said two years ago, Uma Devi had worked as a security guard and commission agent at a private fertility centre in Hyderabad. Currently, Uma Devi is contacting ovum donors and introducing them to the hospital, for which the hospital authorities give the donor ₹5 lakh. She takes ₹5,000 as commission.
In the process, Uma Devi came in contact with Divya and Sandeep, who do similar work. The four started meeting women who visit Hyderabad at functions. They would lure them for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). After delivery, they sold the kids and shared money among themselves.
In 2022, police booked Uma Devi under sections 372 IPC and section 81 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in Mangalagiri. She has been attending the court since then. In the interim, Uma Devi mortgaged her gold chain with a bank and borrowed ₹4.6 lakh for purchasing the infant kid for sale, inspector Vinod Kumar said.
Uma Devi and her husband have been booked under sections 137(2), 143(2) r/w 3(5) BNS and section 81 of JJ (Juvenile Justice) Act and sent to judicial remand. Police are looking out for Sandeep, Divya and Sahana for their involvement in the racket.
