The Telangana police arrested a doctor from Khamman district on Friday, for allegedly selling babies to childless couples.
Speaking to PTI, Khammam Assistant Commissioner of Police PV Ganesh said, "R Srinivas, who holds a Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree and runs a hospital in Kurivi town of Mahabubabad district, sold at least five newborns to childless parents over the past five years."
According to the report, all the newborns he sold, were tribal girls, and he pocketed between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for every 'sale'.
The police said that the doctor would take advantage of the parents being daily wage labourers, and tell them that the newborn babies were unwell, and would require expensive treatment costing more than Rs 1 lakh.
As most of the patients could not afford that amount, they would abandon the child, which would then be sold by the doctor, police said.
Police registered a case against the doctor under Section 370 of the IPC (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.
DC reported that Srinivas was a repeat offender, and a case had been booked in Mahbubabad district, a month ago against the doctor for conducting illegal sex determination tests.
Srinivas was finally arrested on Thursday evening, after the police found reliable information, that he had sold a baby girl to a childless couple in Khammam recently.
According to reports, the baby girl was rescued and handed over to the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department, who in turn admitted the baby in the State-run Sishu Vihar in Khammam.
This arrest also comes just a day after another similar incident had surfaced in the state.
Police had registered a case against the parents of a baby, for allegedly selling the boy to another couple for Rs 8,000.
B Lalamma and B Jaiappa, residents of Karankota in the state’s Vikarabad district, allegedly sold their one-and-a-half month old boy to another couple based in Tandur town.
The police said that the parents of the boy had even prepared a legal adoption deed with the help of a lawyer, before taking money from the other couple.