Nagpur: The Nagpur police are on the verge of arresting close to 100 individuals involved in child-selling cases as they uncover further links to a recent offense registered at the Sadar Police Station in the city. Over the past three years, city police have registered 17 cases involving the sale of newborn babies. In a commendable effort, all the babies have been rescued, and 92 individuals, including doctors, nurses, and agents, have been booked for their involvement in these illicit operations, a report in a local English daily said.
Nagpur’s Commissioner of Police, Amitesh Kumar, who marked his three-year anniversary in office on Monday, has taken decisive action against these criminal enterprises. He has invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) against one such racket, led by Shweta Khan, also known as Ayesha Khan, and her husband Maqbool Khan. Shweta, formerly a nurse at a Dhantoli hospital, turned to child trafficking after her dismissal following the initial case against her at the Kotwali Police Station.
Assistant PI Rekha Sankhpal, head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHU) revived by Commissioner Kumar in 2020, revealed that the child-selling rackets specifically targeted vulnerable childless couples. They enticed these couples by posing as legitimate agents, presenting proper documents to create the illusion of legally safe adoptions. Sankhpal stated, “We consider the childless couples as witnesses, but the final decision rests with the court. The rescued babies are currently in secure government facilities, and their future will be determined by the Child Welfare Committee.”
In addition to the Khan couple’s operation, the AHU unit has also dismantled rackets run by individuals such as Rajashree Sen, the Prajapati couple, and Pinki and Pankaj Yadav. Beyond addressing child-selling activities, Commissioner Kumar has led a crackdown on flesh trade rackets, resulting in 61 cases being filed against 144 accused individuals over the past three years. Numerous minors and other victims of these rackets have been rescued during these operations. Notably, there has been a comprehensive effort to eliminate the presence of minors in the city’s red-light area, Ganga Jamuna, with approximately 80 houses and two entrance gates being sealed off.
Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which redirected resources toward lockdown enforcement, the Nagpur police, under Commissioner Kumar’s leadership, have managed to crack over 14,000 cases and recover property worth more than Rs 115 crore during their investigations. This dedication to justice underscores the police force’s commitment to upholding the law and safeguarding the welfare of its citizens.
