In a disturbing incident reported from Vidarbha’s Yavatmal district, an alcoholic father, along with three others, sold his three-year-old son for a sum of two and a half lakhs in Telangana. Distressed by the situation, the child's mother promptly contacted the Arni police station and filed a complaint.
Upon receiving the complaint, the police acted swiftly, registering a case and apprehending the accused, seizing their phones and relevant documents. The individuals involved in this shocking incident are identified as father Shravan Dadarao Devkar (32), Chandrabhan Lakdaji Devkar (65), both from Koper, Kailas Laxman Gaikwad (55) from Gandhinagar, Arni, and Balya Godambe from Mahagaon (Kalgaon).
Shravan and Chandrabhan, the primary suspects, have been taken into custody. Acting on information about the child being sold in Telangana, a police team promptly reached Mohanraopeth in Jagtal district. The child was safely rescued and taken into the care of child welfare authorities.
The purchase of the child was reportedly made by Bolli Gangaram Raju (45, residing in Mohanrao), facilitated through agent Arvind Ramayya Askemwar (45, residing in Bhagyanagar, Adilabad). Superintendent of Police Yavatmal, Dr. Pawan Bansod, supervised the swift action taken by the police in this distressing case.
Giving details of the information, Yavatmal SP Pawan Bansod said, "In Yavatmal district, a case has been registered against the father of the child. The father sold his own child for Rs. 2.5 lakh for money. The father is an alcoholic and sold his son to buy liquor. He sold his child to an agent from Adilabad... In this matter, a lady was going to sell this child to a Qatar-based person. In this further investigation is going on and, a human trafficking case has been registered..."
Maharashtra tops in human trafficking after Telangana
After Telangana, Maharashtra registered the maximum number of human trafficking cases in 2022, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics revealed last month. Last year, 793 females and 12 males (total 805) were rescued from human traffickers in Maharashtra. Most of them were pushed into prostitution, labour and forced marriages.
Across India 2,112 cases of human trafficking were registered in 2022, most of them in four states: Telangana (391), Maharashtra (295), Bihar (260) and Andhra Pradesh (163).
In Maharashtra 805 people – 793 of them were females – were rescued from the clutches of traffickers. The analysis revealed that 784 were forced into sexual exploitation and prostitution, three into forced marriages and one into forced labour.
