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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 07 August 2025

CID begins baby sale probe with mom trail

The CID on Friday formally took over investigations into the alleged baby sale from Nirmal Hriday and for starters, shot a letter to Gumla district police seeking details of two minor, unwed mothers whose newborn children were among those illegally adopted from the Missionaries of Charity-run shelter here.

Vijay Deo Jha Published 28.07.18, 12:00 AM

Ranchi: The CID on Friday formally took over investigations into the alleged baby sale from Nirmal Hriday and for starters, shot a letter to Gumla district police seeking details of two minor, unwed mothers whose newborn children were among those illegally adopted from the Missionaries of Charity-run shelter here.

The CID is likely to send a similar letter to West Singhbhum police on Saturday, seeking details of yet another unwed minor who gave birth while in Nirmal Hriday's custody and whose baby too was sold to a foster family.

When the racket was unearthed on July 3, and was followed by the arrest of shelter employee Anima Indwar and rescued girls in-charge Sister Concelia, police had trailed four babies to their foster parents and also found their biological mothers.

Later, the anti-human trafficking unit at Kotwali thana discovered that at least three more babies had been sold from the shelter. The case diary, now handed over to the CID, mentions addresses of three more unwed minors who delivered babies at Nirmal Hriday. Gumla and West Singhbhum police will be asked to verify the same.

"The three babies are yet to be traced to their foster parents, which is why we first need to establish the identities of their biological mothers. The statement of these minor girls will be necessary to build a prosecution case," said a CID source, adding that they would also quiz two contractual workers of Ranchi Sadar Hospital who brokered the deal along with former Nirmal Hriday employee Shilvanti Devi.

As of now, the CID only knows that the three unwed mothers are from Gumla and West Singhbhum, and their babies were sold on April 14 this year and November 3 and December 12 last year.

CID inspector Mohammed Nehaluddin, who has been made the investigating officer, refused to comment. But, department insiders said the probe into baby trafficking would not be limited to violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

"These unwed mothers are perhaps rape survivors. We have to check whether any FIR was lodged in their cases and the status of investigations," the source said.

ADG (operations) R.K. Mallick said the CID would carry out an "in-depth" probe. "Police have already showed seven cases of violation of the Juvenile Justice Act. The CID will focus on cases of human trafficking, the money involved and the mode of payment, among others," he said.

Child welfare committees are, meanwhile, are inspecting shelters in different districts and are expected to submit a report to the government by August 15 this year.

Letter from Centre

The Union ministry of woman and child development has asked the state to ensure registration of all child care institutions and link them with the Central Adoption Regulatory Authority within a month.

A letter from the ministry, received here on Thursday, has further asked the state administration to inspect all the shelters run by the Missionaries of Charity in Jharkhand and other homes that may be involved in illegal adoptions.

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