Kendrapara: Four persons, including the ASHA worker and a staff of Surya nursing home who had allegedly sold a new born girl were arrested by Kendrapara Town police today. The other two persons are the owner of the nursing home and the person who had bought the child.
Earlier on Friday, police along with Child Welfare Committee (CWC) officials had rescued the child from Cuttack Sishu Bhawan. Upon interrogation, the person who adopted the child claimed he had given money and signed papers before adopting the new born. As her health condition was not good, she was admitted to the Sishu Bhawan.
It may be mentioned that, a couple of Righagarh village under Rajnagar police limits in Kendrapara district had lodged a complaint with the Town police against an ASHA worker and staff of a nursing home on Friday accusing them of selling their baby.
As per the complainant, the ASHA worker first took the pregnant woman Gitanjali Maharana to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) when she suffered labour pain. Later, she shifted Gitanjali to Surya Nursing Home by saying that the DHH would not provide proper treatment.
Gitanjali delivered a baby girl at the private nursing home on August 1 night and the next morning, the ASHA worker asked them to pay Rs 7,500 for the delivery. But as they expressed their inability to pay the amount, the hospital authorities allegedly sold the baby to another family.