Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police on Sunday arrested one Srinibas Jena from Nayagarh district on the charges of buying a baby.
According to sources, one Tapan Palei had sold the baby to Jena last year. Acting on a tip off, police conducted a raid in Nayagarh and rescued the baby.
However, Palei, who is reportedly the father of the child, is still at large, sources in the police said.
Palei had married to one Arati Nayak in 2018, when the duo was working in Bangalore. However, due to some problems in their jobs, they later shifted to Salia Sahi in Bhubaneswar.
Later in March 2020, Arati delivered a baby boy. After 12 days of birth of the newborn, Palei took the baby from her wife on the pretext of giving Polio drop and sold him to Jena for Rs 50,000, said sources.
When Palei returned empty handed, Arati asked him for her baby. When he could not give satisfactory reply and threatened her of dire consequence, Arati lodged a police complaint in this regard.
Acting on the complaint, police launched a probe into the matter and rescued the baby after 10 months of investigation.
The baby, which is now 13 months old, has been handed over to Child Welfare Commission (CWC) for necessary action at their end, sources in police said.