Child traffickers con pregnancy, force motherhood with stolen babies

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh (MP) police and their Uttar Pradesh (UP) counterparts have initiated a joint investigation into a first of its kind of 'miracle pregnancy' scam wherein women seeking fertility treatment were tricked to believe that they were pregnant and had given birth while sedated. The babies, which these desperate unsuspecting women thought were delivered by them, were stolen from their biological mothers.
The racket was busted after recovery of an stolen infant from UP's Lalitpur area. Police found that a women was administered a herbal drug after which her face, arms and abdomen swelled as if she was pregnant. A quack was part of the fake pregnancy cartel had certified the pregnancy.
The mastermind of the cartel Guddan Bai , 35, was arrested from MP's Datia district last week. Two others in her gang including Dr Neeraj Gupta of Datia and Sanjay Chaube of Jhansi were also detained.
The matter surfaced after one Bhagwati Bai, a resident of UP’s Lalipur district, received a tip-off that her son, who went stolen two hours after in February this year, was with one Ankit Khare, a businessman in Jhansi and his wife after which the police raided Khare's house and recovered the baby. The DNA report confirmed that the child was sired by Bhagwati Bai.
However Khare and his wife could not accept the baby boy they brought home from Datia seven months ago as not their own, despite forensic tests proving they are not the actual parents. During police interrogation Khare narrated the entire story after which Guddan and her associates were arrested.
Police said it was in February that desperate and distressed Khare travelled to Datia and met a self styled sorcerer Guddan Bai who explained that she would be able to treat his wife with herbs so that she can get pregnant.
“She gave Khare's wife some herbs to take back to Jhansi and take for nine months. She took the herbs religiously. Her tummy began to swell, and her feet too. Those were the only signs she had that made her think she was pregnant.” police said.
Khare explained that Guddan forbade his wife from going for any form of ante-natal session or scan. “Accused told him that if she did, they would not see anything because what she was carrying was a ‘miracle’ pregnancy,” said a police officer.
So, within the nine-month period that her tummy protruded like that of a pregnant woman, she visited no hospital. When she returned to the clinic months later she was sedated. When she regained consciousness she was handed a baby and told she had given birth. The couple was duped into believing the umbilical cord cut and was given a placenta in a plastic bag
Lalitpur’s Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Davendra Mishra told TOI, that to avoid any suspicion Guddan had asked Khare to keep his wife away doctors citing she might deliver a dead child if subjected to a sonography test.
Two more couple, who were treated for infertility by Guddan Bai and her gang, have approached police to verify that the baby they were raising, belong to them.
“We have dispatched out team to UP for further investigations. Its seems to be an entirely different kind of scam which should be investigated,” says D C Sagar, IG Chambal range.