Madhya Pradesh: Police bust child-trafficking racket, nab BJP worker

Madhya Pradesh police have busted a child trafficking racket in Alirajpur district and arrested two persons on Tuesday. One of the accused is said to be a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader belonging to Udepur district.

In an attempt to burst the four-member child trafficking racket, MP police had laid a trap. They have arrested the kingpin named, Shailendra Rathore, when he was trying to sell an 18-month-old boy to a fake couple for Rs 1.4 lakh, reported The Indian Express.

Rathore had later revealed the names of persons who had sold and bought children from them. These names included one Purshottam Agrawal, a snack shop-owner in Vadodara and his relative Raju Agarwal, a BJP worker from Chhota Udepur.

According to the report, Raju Agarwal worked with Rathore at a petrol pump in Chhota Udepur, had introduced him to Purshottam in November last year. While Purshottam had two daughters, he allegedly wanted a son.

The three had reportedly agreed upon a price of Rs 60,000 for a baby boy, the police told The Indian Express. The police are yet to identify his real parents.

As of now, the Alirajpur police have arrested eight people in the case and rescued four children, including one from Vadodara.

The accused Rathore confessed to having sold the six children in the last two-year. He has been charged under various IPC sections and under the Juvenile Justice Act. The police are now trying to identify more people involved in the child trafficking racket, including doctors and potential buyers.

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