On Sunday, the city police apprehended five individuals, including two women, in connection with a child trafficking case involving a one-month-old infant. It has been revealed that one of the suspects, Abdulgafar Ladakhan, operates a clinic in Kittur town and is not a licensed medical practitioner. Following reports linking Ladakhan to the trafficking case, Taluk health official Dr. SS Siddannavar conducted a visit to Ladakhan’s clinic in Kittur on Monday. Dr. Siddannavar addressed the media, confirming that Ladakhan is an unlicensed medical practitioner.
The officer stated that the accused had prominently displayed his qualifications as MBBS on a signboard outside the clinic, while his wife, Dr. AFA Ladakhan, was listed as BHMS, indicating her eligibility to practice homeopathic medicine. However, as the accused lacks the necessary qualifications to practice medicine and is considered a quack, the clinic will be confiscated, the officer added.
When the medical officers arrived at the clinic, they found both the clinic and the residence above it closed. Due to technical issues, the team had to return without confiscating the clinic. Acting on a complaint from Rajkumar Rathod, coordinator of the government children’s adoption center in the Belgaum District Child Protection Unit, the police apprehended the primary suspect, Mahadevi Bahubali Jain, from Neginahal village in Bailhongal taluk.
As per the complaint, she was allegedly engaged in the unlawful activity of procuring children from underprivileged families and selling them to affluent households. In this instance, the primary suspect acquired the 30-day-old infant for Rs 60,000. Undercover as a prospective buyer, the police orchestrated a transaction for Rs 1.4 lakh and apprehended Mahadevi when she arrived to finalize the sale. Mahadevi works as a nurse by profession. Acting on the information provided by Mahadevi, the police arrested the quack Ladakhan and three others. The city police commissioner, Iada Martin Marbaniang, affirmed that the police department is investigating the case comprehensively.
“We discovered that the infant Mahadevi attempted to sell was born at the clinic operated by Ladakhan. We are gathering comprehensive information and exploring the possibility of previous occurrences of a similar nature. The department has successfully rescued the child, and our investigation is ongoing,” stated the officer.
