Kolkata Police busts child trafficking racket involving 100 surrogate mothers

Kolkata (IANS). The Kolkata Police has allegedly busted an illegal baby-selling racket in the city, involving around 100 surrogate mothers and a network of hundreds of agents and sub-agents.

Mamta Patra, one of the main masterminds behind this racket, has been taken into custody by the police. The police have also been able to identify the involvement of a popular In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) center in this racket.

A raid and search operation has already been conducted at the said IVF center located at Anandapur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata.

The police came to know about this racket during the investigation of a case where a mother, Rupali Mandal, was arrested on August 1 for trying to sell her child to another woman, Kalyani Guha.

Both Mandal and Guha were taken into custody by the police. Later, when it was probed more deeply, the main racket behind it was identified. Once a couple unable to conceive a child through the normal process approached an IVF centre, its staff would contact Mamta Patra, who would promise to deliver a child to the couple after a reasonable amount of time.

Meanwhile, Patra, through his agent network, would approach any woman belonging to an economically backward class with an offer to buy her womb for Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000. After the baby was born, it was handed over to the couple for Rs 4,00,000 to Rs 4,50,000, confirmed a city police official on the strict condition of anonymity.

The city police officer said that recently Patra had also given her womb on rent and earned a hefty amount by selling the newborn. In her case too, the location of the IVF center surrogacy was under suspicion. We are now trying to track down that particular newborn. The involvement of some IVF experts in this case cannot be ruled out.

Kolkata Police busts child trafficking racket involving around 100 surrogate mothers