Another child 'sold' in Jharkhand rescued

Ranchi, July 11: Police rescued one more child, allegedly sold by a Ranchi shelter home run by Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity, from Jharkhand's Simdega district, taking the total number of rescued children to three.

"Of the four children allegedly sold (by the shelter home), the third child was rescued today from Simdega. A few people have been detained for questioning in this regard," Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Anis Gupta said. He said the search for the fourth child was on.

The police came to know about the child of Simdega after questioning the two people arrested in this connection, police sources said. A source claimed that all the four babies were sold from the Nirmal Hriday located at Jail Road in Ranchi during the past one year.

All the three rescued babies have been sent to a shelter home, the source said. The 'racket' came to light after a woman employee and the in-charge of the local Nirmal Hriday were arrested on the charge of selling a child born to a minor inmate of the shelter home earlier this month.

The arrests were made following a complaint by Rupa Verma, the chairperson of Ranchi Child Welfare Committee (CWC). A couple from Uttar Pradesh had approached Verma, saying that the Nirmal Hriday took away a child they had been given in May against a payment of Rs 1.2 lakh.

The source said another baby, allegedly sold by the same Nirmal Hriday, was rescued from Morabadi area of Ranchi on July 8.

PTI