Baby sold twice in eight months, by dad and doctor

KOLKATA: The baby, rescued from a couple at Baranagar on Monday, was not sold off once, but twice, in a matter of merely eight months.
The biological father of the child—delivered by a minor girl from Bhowanipore at a Contai nursing home in East Midnapore—first sold her to a doctor there. Eight months on, she was again sold off, this time to a couple in Baranagar, investigations have revealed.
The biological father, Padmalochan Bera (31), and five others were arrested in a joint raid by the Kolkata and East Midnapore police in Contai.The baby is now in the custody of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kolkata.
Barely 16 years old, the child’s mother lived in Bhowanipore when she met Bera, the caretaker of a nearby building. From Ramnagar in Contai, Bera allegedly lured her into physical relations with him. When she became pregnant, Bera reportedly took her to Contai on the pretext of getting married. But there, the girl realised Bera was married with children. Bera got the girl admitted to a nursing home there and after she delivered the girl, he forced her to give it up for adoption, the police said. Bera allegedly sold the baby to Suman Haldar, a doctor at the nursing home, for Rs 90,000.
Back in Kolkata, the mother narrated her ordeal to her parents who lodged a complaint of kidnapping and rape at the Bhowanipore police station. The girl was sent to a CWC home and a probe busted the baby sales racket. On questioning Bera and Haldar, the police learnt the doctor had sold the child a few weeks ago, after his wife gave birth to a boy boy. Haldar gave the baby to Baranagar’s Jayanta Prasad Chatterjee and his wife in exchange for Rs 50,000, the police said. Chatterjee was arrested.
“It is shocking how the baby was sold twice in just a few months, first by the biological father and then by the doctor who had bought her. The doctor sold her off after his wife gave birth to a boy. This is even more shocking as they got rid of the baby just because she is a girl,” said a CWC member.
The baby was produced before the CWC Board on Tuesday after which she was handed over to a shelter home, run by an NGO. As they cannot hand over the baby to the biological mother as she is still a minor, CEC members will check if the maternal grandparents could take her in.