Infant sold for Rs 2.5 lakh in Odisha’s Bolangir; father, middleman arrested

In a shocking incident, father of a five-day-old boy was arrested at Jhankarpada village under Titlagarh block in Bolangir district for allegedly selling the infant to another person in Kalahandi for Rs 2,50,000. The middleman in the alleged child sale deal has also been arrested.

The accused father has been identified as Santosh Patel.

As per reports, Santosh and her wife Pushpa were poverty-stricken and they were unable to take the burden of another child. As a result, they were forced to sell the infant to one person, identified as Raja from Kalahandi through the help of a middleman, Ramzan Seikh.

After getting information about the incident, Titlagarh police registered a suo motu case and arrested Santosh and Sheikh in this connection. Both the accused have been produced before the Court. Further investigation into the case is underway.

However, Ramzan Sheikh’s wife Zarina Begum refuted her husband’s involvement in the case.

“My husband is not at all involved in the case. The infant’s father might have given him to somebody else. My husband has no knowledge about it,” said Zarina.

“There are several questions as to why would a father sell his child? Why the person who bought the infant has not been arrested by police,” questioned senior lawyer Sumanta Behera.