A day after the arrest of two employees at Missionaries of Charity, Ranchi police has said it will widen the probe to include other shelters run by the Kolkata-headquartered organisation. On Thursday, police had arrested Sister Konsalia and Anima Indwar, an employee of the organisation for allegedly selling infants for adoption. The police have come across four instances at the shelter home where infants were sold for about Rs 1.2 lakh each.
Speaking with NDTV, police officer RK Mallick said, “If this [selling babies] was a lucrative trade, there is reason to believe other centres operated by Missionaries of Charity or other shelter homes also may be indulging in such activities.”
As a precaution, 13 girls living at Nirmal Hriday and 22 at another shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi have been shifted to a new accommodation.
On July 3, Saurav and Preeti Agrawal from UP’s Sonebhadra district approached the CWC with a complaint that Indwar, who allegedly sold them a newborn boy in May, had taken back the child on the pretext of completing court formalities and had not returned him to the couple. The complainant said they paid Rs 1.20 lakh to MoC for the child, according to a report in Indian Express.
Police will also treat those who paid money in exhange for children as an accused in the case as the procedure is illegal, the SP of Ranchi city, Aman Kumar told the daily.
The Missionaries of Charity, in a statement, said it was looking into the matter and will ensure such incidents are not repeated. “We are completely shocked by what has happened in our home in Ranchi… It should never have happened. It is completely against our moral convictions,” Sunita Kumar, a spokesperson for the Charity said on Thursday.
