13 arrested by Belagavi police in child trafficking case in one month

BELAGAVI: Child trafficking rackets have become active in the border district again. The police have cracked three cases in the last one month and arrested 13 people from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa in connection with cases lodged in different police stations in the district.

Briefing media persons, Police Superintendent Bheemashankar Guled said the traffickers targeted women with young children who had lost their husbands and struggling to make a living, and would get them married again. On the pretext of looking after the children, they would sell the infants for anywhere between Rs 3-4 lakhs.

Belagavi Police Superintendent Bheemashankar Guled briefing the media.

The SP said that in one instance, two women of Sultanpur village in Hukkeri taluk were married for a second time to different people. One of them, Sangeetha, got married to Sadashiva Magadum and the woman who brought the couple together, Lakshmi Golabavi offered to take care of Sangeetha’s child for some. Following this, Sadashiva Magadu, Sangeetha Sawant and Anasuya Doddamani sold Sangeetha’s child to Dilshad, a resident of Belagavi, for Rs 4 lakh.

After three months, Sangeetha contacted Susheela of the NGO Spandana and narrated about the incident following which the latter took her to the Hukkeri police station and lodged a complaint. Following this, the Hukkeri police arrested four of the six accused and rescued the child, the SP said.

Later, another woman, Archana, contacted Susheela of the NGO and claimed that her child too had been trafficked, and a case was registered. Archana too had got married for a second time and a woman, Susheela Gouli, had offered to take care of her child. Instead, she sold the child for Rs 3 lakh through Mohan Tawade and Sangeetha Tawade of Gadhinglaj in Maharashtra. The Hukkeri police arrested three people and rescued Archana’s child, the SP said.

On January 8, another child who had been trafficked in Belagavi, was rescued and reunited with the biological mother by the Market police. Six people, including middlemen, were arrested in this case and they have been sent to judicial custody, the SP added.