Businessman and Wife Arrested for Abandoning Toddler on Highway, Linked to Child Trafficking Racket

BHOPAL: A Guna-based businessman and his wife have been arrested for allegedly abandoning their two-and-a half-year-old daughter on a highway in Sheopur district, believing the child had brought "bad luck" to their family and business. The case has since widened into a suspected child trafficking racket, with police saying the toddler was not legally adopted by the Gunabased couple but allegedly purchased for around Rs 1 lakh through an illegal network in Indore. Several suspects in the racket have been arrested.

The child was found alone on National Highway-552 in Sheopur's Soinkalan on April 18 after a Dial-112 (police) alert. Cops rushed to the spot and informed the local Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which took the girl into care after medical tests.

An FIR was registered for abandoning a minor in unsafe conditions. Investigators began tracking the accused using CCTV footage, technical evidence and witness statements, eventually identifying the vehicle used to dump the child. Police traced the vehicle to Bhopal and questioned the couple. They claimed initially to have legally adopted the child but relented under sustained interrogation to reveal the girl had been bought in from an Indore beauty parlour operator and her associates.

The cops then invoked additional sections related to trafficking and Juvenile Justice Act against the couple, who have been remanded by a local court in police custody for further questioning. Officials said the network appears to source children from vulnerable backgrounds and sell them to buyers under the guise of adoption. Investigations are on to trace the biological parents of the child and uncover the full scale of the racket.

Adding another element of intrigue, a woman from Bhopal who identified herself as the child's former caretaker told the cops the girl was subjected to physical abuse. She claimed she had been hired to look after the child for Rs 20,000 a month but left after not receiving her salary. According to this woman, the couple never disclosed the child's origin.