Odishatv Bureau

In a major breakthrough, the Rourkela police has busted a child sale racket operating in the city and arrested seven persons, including five women, on Monday.

As per reports, the eight-member child sale gang was active in the Rourkela region and used to sell infants outside the State, especially in Jharkhand for lakhs of rupees.

The Plant Site Police here managed to arrest at least seven members of the gang on Monday and seized several mobile phones from their possession.

"Out of the eight persons involved in the crime, we have arrested seven persons including five women and also seized their mobile phones. In their phones, we found pictures of several newborn babies," informed Bikram Keshari Bhoi, Additional SP, Rourkela.

He further said that the greed for money seems to have made them get involved in such crimes as they were getting upto Rs 2 lakh for selling a male baby and also upto Rs 1 lakh for female babies.

Meanwhile, Bhoi informed that a case has been registered against the accused and further investigation will be done to ascertain involvement of other people in the crime.

"A case under the IPC used for kidnapping children below eight years old has been registered against them," said Bhoi.

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