Three-day-old baby was sold on Facebook

A three-day-old baby was sold on Facebook for £9,660 after his own grandfather told his daughter that her child had died and stole him.
Police in Punjab, India, say the man, named only as Firoz, was offered Rs 45,000 (£550) by a hospital nurse and her accomplice who were involved in a child trafficking ring.The child was later sold to a Delhi-based businessman for Rs 800,000 (£9,660) through a deal arranged on Facebook.

Reunited: Mother Noora kisses her 10-day-old baby who was sold to a child trafficking ring by his own grandfather when he was just three days old

According to local media reports, the mother, named only as Noora, gave birth to the baby boy in the city of Ludhiana on April 8 and was discharged from hospital the following day.But on April 10 the nurse named as Sunita, and a fellow hospital employee named as Gurpreet Singh, took the baby away claiming he was ill.
The following day they told her the child had died.

Then on April 12 some people reportedly came to Noora's home and paid her father Firoz Rs 45,000, after which he left the home.However Noora, who separated from her husband in February this year, had become suspicious about her father's sudden new wealth and reported the baby as missing to the police.

Accused: A nurse, named only as Sunita (face covered), is escorted by Indian police. She is accused of taking a newborn baby from its mother and arranging for it to be sold to a businessman

Officers managed to trace Firoz to the city of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and during an interrogation he revealed the entire plot.The police team then returned to the hospital where they discovered the baby alive and well and returned him to his mother.Investigatorsbelieve the nurse and her accomplice had sold the baby to a middleman for Rs 350,000 (£4,230).
The middleman then allegedly arranged the Facebook deal with the businessman.They arrested the nurse who they believe was involved with a child trafficking racket and are now attempting to apprehend the middleman, the Delhi-based businessman and any others involved.

Plot: A hospital nurse and her accomplice allegedly took the baby away from his mother claiming he was ill before agreeing to sell him to a middleman who arranged a deal with a Delhi-based businessman

The accomplice Gurpreet Singh was said to have shown a picture of the baby on Facebook before the deal was struck.
The grandfather reportedly told interrogators that he wanted to arrange a second marriage for his daughter after she had been deserted by her husband.Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh told NDTV: 'So he thought he should get rid off the child of her daughter from her first husband by selling him off.'

 

 

Arrest: The baby's grandfather and others involved in the case have been arrested. The police are now on the lookout for the businessman in Delhi