5-Day-Old Boy Sold For Rs 2.5 Lakh In Odisha’s Balangir; Father & Middleman Held

Balangir: In a shocking incident, a man has been arrested in Odisha’s Balangir district for allegedly selling his five-day-old son for Rs 2.5 lakh.

The accused, identified as Santosh Patel, was caught by the police at Jhankarpada village under Titlagarh block in Bolangir district for allegedly selling the boy to a person in Kalahandi. A middleman in the alleged sale deal has also been arrested.

The Titilagarh police have arrested Santosh and middleman Sheikh Ramadan in this connection.

According to sources, Santosh and his wife Pushpa Patel were blessed with their fourth child at Titilagarh hospital. Due to acute poverty, Santosh with help of his neighbor Sheikh allegedly sold his five-day-old baby to a person namely Raja from Kalahandi district for Rs 2.5 lakh.

After the police got information about the incident, Titilagarh police registered a case suo motu against Santosh and Sheikh and arrested them.

However, Sheikh’s wife Zarina Begum refuted the charge and alleged police atrocity on her husband in the custody.

Claiming that her husband was trapped, she claimed that the police threatened to kill him and assaulted him in custody.

She claimed that the father of the child had no objection in selling the baby and he received Rs 2.5 lakh from a childless man, who had visited Titilagarh from Kalahandi to buy the child. She said her husband was not involved in any wrong doing.