Man's bid to sell 2 of newborn triplet girls foiled

Cuttack: Childline officials today foiled an alleged child sale attempt by a man after his wife delivered triplet girls at SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack.

Sashikant Lenka, a Bhadrak resident, who allegedly tried to sell two of his newborn babies, was stopped after Childline officials reached the medical and thwarted the alleged deal.

Sashikant's wife had given birth to triplet girls 2 days ago at SCB hospital. Sources informed that the couple already has two daughters.

While speaking to OTV, Sashikant denied the allegations levelled against him saying he never wanted to sell his babies.

“I don’t know how I will bear the expenses of 5 children but I never thought of selling my newborns. Someone had tried to contact me asking about my newborn babies but there was no such deal,” said Sashikant.

Meanwhile, hospital's emergency officer, Bhubananand Maharana, has said that action will be taken against the culprits.

“The Childline & Police officials are investigating the case and action will be taken against culprits,” said Maharana.

Bipin Kumar Chowdhury, advocate, Odisha State Legal Service Authority, said, "When we got the information about this case, we informed the Childline officials. Later, we informed Sashikant that the state government has facilities to help people like him. We also asked him to change his decision."

“He has been receiving calls from many people. We also called him disguised as buyers and we observed that he was willing to sell his newborns. Now we are trying to make him aware about the different programs of the state government and Odisha State Legal Service Authority,” Chowdhury added.