Mangalore: Child trafficking busted in undercover operation, three arrested
Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Jul 27: In an undercover operation, the members of 1098 child helpline team along with social activist Vidya Dinker and a journalist busted a child trafficking case on Friday July 26 and got three persons arrested.
The arrested are Lenita from Bajal here, her husband Jossey from Bantwal, and Rangavva, a quarry worker in Bantwal, hailing from Badami.
The helpline team received a tip-off about child trafficking from anganwadi worker Rehana and began their own investigation. They learnt that Rangavva, whose husband stays in Badami, sold her two-month-old baby to Jossey and Lenita. After selling the baby, Rangavva went back to Badami.
However, when confronted by the rescue team, Lenita denied buying the baby and claimed that it was her own. The helpline team asked her to produce documents as proof. Lenita produced the documents, but the helpline team suspected that she had in fact faked documents of her own child, a three-month-old, and claimed them to be of the baby's. However, the team could not prove this suspicion.
To bring out the truth, Rehana then acted as the mediator and told Lenita that a family from abroad was willing to buy the baby. The team sought the help of social activist Vidya Dinker who carry out a sting operation. Dinker contacted the Linita over the phone and introduced herself as a Muslim woman from Mangalore staying in Dubai. She also expressed her wish to buy a baby. It is said that at first Lenita refused, but was soon convinced.
Lenita then asked Dinker to meet up. Accordingly, Dinker, dressed in burkha, went to Lenita's house by Innova car, accompanied by three women including Rehana. Lenita demanded Rs one lac for the child and an additional Rs 75,000 to get the fake documents done. When Dinker asked how she would manage to get the documents, Lenita reportedly said that she knew a lawyer who would help her out. The deal was thus finalized.
It was decided that they would meet on Friday at Thokkottu to exchange the child for the money.
Meanwhile, the child helpline also informed superintendent of police Abhishek Goyal and police commissioner Manish Karbikar. On the day the deal was to be executed, the police too arrived at the spot and caught the accused red-handed.
The police also seized Rs 90,000 in cash, a fake press card, 10 pass books and 20 credit cards from the accused.
The baby was handed over to the child welfare committee.
The helpline rescue team had also gone in search of Rangavva and looked for her in about 13 quarries, and managed to find her finally. She too was arrested.
Speaking to daijiworld, Vidya Dinker expressed her gratitude to the police in assisting with the operation.
Renny D'Souza, director of 1098 child helpline and her team comprising Ashunta D'Souza, Sarita, Jayanti, Sunita, Deepak and Vinod carried out the operation.
Ullal police have registered a case and further investigations are on.