A vigilant cab driver drove three people, including two women, travelling in his vehicle with two stolen female infants to DLF Phase 3 police station in Gurugram on Friday, 7 January, night.
The driver's alertness helped the cops bust an inter-state child trafficking gang. The police, on Saturday, 8 January, said that the gang stole infants, aged 20-25 days, from Delhi hospitals and sold them in neighbouring states.
The police identified three suspects: Surender Kaur (44), Neha (37), and Harjinder Singh. The taxi was booked for Rs 4,000 for travelling to Alwar in Rajasthan from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi.
The telephonic conversations with a person raised suspicion to the driver that helped him understand that the two infants were stolen and they were trying to sell them.
One of them was planned to be sold for Rs 2.4 lakh and another for Rs 2.7 lakh in Alwar.
According to the police, Surender and Harjinder were from Alwar, while Neha is a resident of Sector 16 in Delhi’s Rohini.
The stolen infants were handed over to the child welfare committee and efforts are on to find out about their parents. The infants were reportedly stolen from hospitals in Delhi.
Delhi Police had arrested Surender in 2014 in a child theft case.
“There are at least 12 more members in the gang, which had been operating since 2014,” Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime) said.
The ACP said Umesh was returning from Delhi when the three people hired his vehicle for travelling to Alwar.
“The deal to sell the infants didn’t materialise, following which the trio cancelled their journey to Alwar and asked the driver to drop them to Raghubir Nagar in Delhi,” Sangwan said.
“But the driver drove them to DLF Phase 3 police station without letting them know. We will move court for police remand of the suspects for detailed interrogation,” he added.
Police on Sunday, 9 January, said they had arrested two more people for their alleged involvement in the racket. So far, five people, including four women, have been arrested.
Meanwhile, Gurugram police has announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for Umesh for helping the police.
(With inputs from The Hindustan Times)
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