Belagavi Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled announced on Monday that three individuals have been apprehended for their involvement in an inter-state child trafficking ring operating across Karnataka and Maharashtra. This follows the earlier arrest of four women from the same network in a related case.
SP Guled stated: “These arrests stem from leads obtained during the interrogation of the four suspects taken into custody last week. Based on this information, a team led by Hukkeri station inspector MK Basapur detained Sangeeta Hammannavar from Gadhinglaj taluk in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, along with Mohan Tavade and his wife Sangeeta Tavade from Ratnagiri district. Efforts are ongoing to trace two absconding suspects, Nandkar Doralekar and his wife Nandini.”
The gang reportedly preyed on widowed women with young children, luring them into remarriage under the guise of a fresh start. The group would then separate the mothers from their children and sell the infants for significant sums of money. The SP explained that men agreeing to these second marriages were falsely assured that the children would be cared for elsewhere.
One such incident involved Raju Magdum and Archana, both widowed residents of Sultanpur village in Hukkeri taluk. Archana, whose five-year-old son had health issues, was told the child would receive treatment in Maharashtra. Instead, he was sold to the Doralekar couple at Hammannavar’s residence in Gadhinglaj for ₹3 lakh, with the proceeds shared among the gang members.
Suspicious of the inconsistent explanations regarding her son’s whereabouts, Archana filed a missing person complaint on January 20, naming the suspects. The investigation also uncovered another case involving a widow named Sangeeta from the same village. Her six-month-old son had been sold to a childless couple in Maharashtra for ₹4 lakh. Four arrests were made in connection with this case.
Inspector MK Basapur described the trafficking operation as a “well-organized network” exploiting vulnerable widowed mothers under the pretext of offering help. He added, “We have solved two cases involving the sale of children in our jurisdiction, and ongoing investigations could uncover more.”
SP Guled further stated that the probe is examining potential links between the gang and infertility clinics, which may have facilitated connections between the traffickers and childless couples.
