Palanpur: The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Banaskantha has arrested three more individuals in connection with an inter-State child trafficking racket, including two key women operatives of the ‘Murugan Gang’ and a man who sold his newborn daughter. With these arrests, the total number of accused held in the case has risen to 10.

Acting on technical surveillance inputs, LCB teams traced the network to Telangana and apprehended two prime suspects, Rani and Shivarani, from Secunderabad. Both are residents of West Marredpally and were identified based on the interrogation of seven accused arrested earlier.

According to police, the gang primarily targeted childless couples, especially those visiting IVF centres in Hyderabad, and sold trafficked newborns to them at high prices. “Agents earned commissions ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per child. Infants were often trafficked within 24 to 48 hours of birth from states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi,” said Banaskantha SP Prashant Sumbe.

In a separate development, a man from Danta was arrested for allegedly selling his five-day-old daughter to the racket for Rs 2.8 lakh.

Police have also arrested the alleged kingpin of the racket, Telangana-based Bodasu Nagaraju alias Murugan. Investigators said the syndicate operated an organised network across Hyderabad and the Sirpur-Kagaznagar region of Telangana, where agents identified prospective buyers and facilitated illegal adoptions.

The probe was initiated following the rescue of a four-year-old kidnapped boy belonging to a Rajasthan family near Dhanpura on April 6. Subsequent arrests led to the unearthing of the extensive trafficking network. DeshGujarat