Father held for selling baby to clear debt in Bangalore

A father sold his newborn for Rs49,500, as part of a business transaction, after he got into a debt. The police, however, acting on the complaint lodged by his wife, recovered the baby and reunited it with the mother.

According to commissioner of police of Mangalore, Seemanth Kumar Singh, the incident occurred while the new mother, Rahamath, and her husband, Shameer, were stepping out of the Father Muller’s Hospital in Mangalore city, where the baby was delivered. A gang of four intercepted them and Shameer had snatched the neonate from Rahamath and given it away to the group, unmindful of her protests.

Rahamath had then lodged a complaint with the Panambur police who found the baby in the house of one of the accused in Panambur. The police have arrested three persons including Shameer, the baby’s father.

Shameer had entered into a pact with the group to ‘sell’ the baby for a sum of Rs49,500 even before the baby was born. Shameer had taken the decision as he was monetarily indebted to the duo who brought the baby.

The other two arrested have been identified as Abdul Khader and Baddruddin. They have been charged under IPC sections 363-368 and sections 34 and 23 under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000.