The accused couple with their kids recovered by police. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 19: Police today rescued the five-year-old girl child of Shyamachandra Rao and Pramila Rao, who have been detained by Kharavela Nagar police since Wednesday for selling their 22-day-old son and two other children.

The girl was found from the possession of a couple, identified as Ganesh Das and Suni Das, at Bidanasi in Cuttack town. Earlier, Rao told the police that he had handed over the child to one Gitanjali Parida of Kakatpur in Puri district a week after she was born. But later, police investigation revealed that the girl had been in the custody of the Das’s.

A senior police officer said Ganesh was working as an accountant at a medicine store in Bidanasi.

They are probing whether the girl was handed over to the couple without any monetary transaction or was sold by the Rao couple. The girl was later produced before the Khurda child welfare committee from where she was sent to a missionary home. Earlier, the cops arrested all the three couples, including the Rao’s under the Juvenile Justice Act, and they were released through personal recognisance bond.

The police yesterday registered a case against the Rao’s and two other couples. The police rescued the 22-day-old baby boy from the possession of Ranjit Choudhury and Chandni Choudhury from Jagatsinghpur on Wednesday.

Similarly, another two-year-old male child, born to the Rao couple, was rescued from the possession of Prakash Panda and Swarnaprabha Panda from Pipili in Puri district yesterday.

Though Shyamachandra had admitted of selling his 22-day-old son to the Choudhury’s for Rs 6,000, he had denied selling his two other children, including the girl.

The matter came to light after a 13-year-old boy, born to the Rao’s, went missing and was later found from Vishakhapatnam. He was handed over to the Berhampur Child Line and later handed over to the organisation’s Bhubaneswar branch on July 12. On counselling, it was found that the boy’s parents had sold two of their children.

Later the committee had lodged an FIR at Kharavela Nagar police station on the basis of a deed made on a stamp paper and statement of Shyamachandra’s 13-year-old son.