In a disturbing incident, four individuals have been arrested for allegedly selling a seven-year-old boy from Sultanpur in Hukkeri taluk of Belagavi district for Rs 4 lakh. This marks the third child trafficking case reported in the district within the last three months.
The accused have been identified as Sadashiv Shivbasappa Magdum, 32, the boy’s stepfather from Sultanpur; Lakshmi Babu Golbhavi, 38, residing in Sultanpur; Sangeeta Vishnu Sawant, 40, from Ambedkar Nagar, Kolhapur; and Anasuya Girimallappa Dodmani, 50, from Kesroli in Haliyal taluk, Karwar.
According to Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar Guled, Magdum and several middlemen from Kolhapur and Karwar were involved in selling the boy to Dilshad Sikandar Tehsildar from Belagavi for Rs 4 lakh. Dilshad, who has two daughters, was seeking a son.
Magdum, who married the boy’s mother, Sangeeta Gudappa Kammar, 30, four months ago, reportedly grew frustrated with frequent fights between their children. As a result, he conspired with Lakshmi to sell the boy.
Lakshmi, who had facilitated Magdum’s marriage, conspired with Sangeeta to hand the boy over to Anasuya in Karwar. Anasuya then sold the boy to Dilshad, falsely claiming that he was an orphan.
The boy’s biological mother, Sangeeta Kammar, filed a missing persons complaint after her son disappeared. Police later traced and recovered the boy from a village near Bailhongal.
