Man attempts to 'sell' son to pay for wife's treatment

A 25-year-labourer, who was running short of money to treat his wife at a private hospital, allegedly entered into a contract to sell their one-month-old son for Rs28,000. The alleged deal was foiled when two youths who were standing at the Loni Kalbhor railway station overheard the conversation of the labourer with a woman and one of her relatives and alerted the police.

The Loni Kalbhor police have detained the woman Mangala Pawar (name changed) from Hadapsar who allegedly wanted to buy the child but later she was allowed to go as nobody filed a formal police complaint against her.

According to the police, the husband-wife couple wishing to sell the baby is staying at Bichkule hamlet in Patas village in Daund taluka and has been working at a construction site in the area for the past couple of months. A month ago, the woman had given birth to a baby boy.

Speaking to dna, assistant sub-inspector RR Bhosale of Yavat police station said, “The woman had delivered the baby boy at Sassoon General Hospital. At that time, she came in contact with Pawar whose daughter had delivered a baby girl.”

“After a few days, the doctor had suggested the woman’s husband to admit his wife to a private hospital but he did not have money for her treatment. We suspect that Pawar might have taken the advantage of this situation and could have lured them for the deal,”  he said.

Thereafter, the husband had taken her wife to his village. “On Wednesday, the husband had taken Rs10,000 from Pawar and finalised the deal. As per the deal, Pawar was to give the remaining Rs 18,000 on Thursday. Accordingly, the husband, Pawar and one of her relatives had met on the Loni Kalbhor railway station. They were discussing the deal when one Ramshankar Shigari and his friend, who overheard the conversation, informed the police. By that time, the woman and her relative had fled but police managed to catch the couple. After questioning the couple, they informed about the woman. Later, police called up the woman and asked her to come to the police station.”

Assistant police inspector Shashikant Chavan of Yavat police station told dna, “Neither the couple nor the buyer woman lodged a complaint with us. As a result, we have recorded their statements and allowed them to go.”