Inter-state child trafficking racket busted, two-year-old girl sold for Rs 4.5 lakh rescued

BELAGAVI: The Belagavi Child Protection Committee and the police have busted an inter-state child trafficking racket and rescued a one-year-ten-month-old girl child who had been sold for Rs 4.5 lakh. The child is presently with a children’s home in Belagavi.

The main accused, Rajendra Metri and his wife Shilpa Metri, residents of Sangli in Maharashtra, had sold their two-year-old daughter to Smitha Wadikar, a resident of Goa, through middlemen based in Belagavi and Maharashtra. The issue came to light when the Belagavi Child Protection Committee received information about the sale on phone.

The deal was struck through middlemen Vandana Surave, a resident of Belagavi, and Maharashtra couple Ravi Raut and his wife Rani Raut at a hotel in Joida in Uttara Kannada district. The Market police have registered a case and taken up further investigation.

According to the police, Vandana Surave, Ravi Raut and Rani Raut are the kingpins of the child trafficking racket. However, in the present case, the child’s parents are the main accused while the Goa woman is the third accused.