COIMBATORE: A 10-day-old girl, allegedly trafficked from Mumbai to be sold in Erode, was rescued by police jointly with Childline authorities on Thursday.
Based on an alert to the control room that an infant had been brought for sale, the police acted swiftly and raided a house near the fish market area in Bhavani and rescued the baby.
The police nabbed Praveen (31) from the house, and an inquiry is under way. He claimed to have received the baby brought by two women from Mumbai for sale.
Officials are trying to determine whether the baby was abducted or taken by coercing its parents for sale. The baby has now been kept in a government shelter, and efforts are being made to trace its parents. Meanwhile, investigators are also questioning Praveen to uncover possible links to a wider network of traffickers.
This incident comes close on the heels of Erode police arresting a couple for abducting a one-and-a-half-year-old girl sleeping beneath a flyover with her parents on the Salem-Coimbatore National Highway. The police managed to nab the offenders after nearly a month of intensive search.