Police foil bid of woman trying to sell 3-year-old in Kerala, held

Palghar, May 25: The Palghar rural police have arrested a 40-year-old woman for allegedly trying to sell a three-old-old boy for Rs 1 lakh in Vasai. Acting on a tip-off, the Manickpur police laid a trap and nabbed the woman on Tuesday night near a skywalk at Vasai railway station where she had come with the child, Additional Superintendent of Police (Vasai division), Raj Tilak Roshan told reporters on Wednesday.

The police sent a woman as a decoy to approach the accused as a prospective buyer, the ASP said. The accused quoted a price of Rs 1 lakh to sell the child, he said. As soon as the woman (decoy) handed over the cash and in exchange took the child with her, police nabbed the accused while she



was accepting the money, he said.

The accused, identified as Sakina Qureshi, has no permanent residential address, he said. Roshan said it is suspected that the woman abducted the boy from Mira Road area. A police team has been sent there for further investigation.

Police received information that the accused had in the past also sold a couple of children. The ASP said they are probing into it an also trying to find out if there is a trafficking nexus and if more people are involved in the racket.

The woman was booked under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping) and 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution), he said. The child has been sent to a local care centre, he said.