Couple held for selling 3-day-old daughter for Rs 20K

The police have arrested a couple on charges of selling their three-day-old daughter for Rs 20,000, on December 22.

The parents, Shabeena Banu and Sikander of Avaragere village near here, sold the baby born on December 19 at the district hospital to Mukhtiyar, the owner of a puffed rice unit here and a resident of Hubballi.

It is said the couple had sold their first child, also a girl, to a Goa resident for Rs 20,000. K H Vijayakumar, an officer with the women and child development department, said investigation is on and it is suspected that a middleman may be involved in the illegal child racket.