Delhi Police arrests 10 more suspects linked with interstate child-trafficking racket
A probe into an interstate child trafficking racket has led to the arrest of 10 more persons including biological parents, traffickers, middlemen, buyers and a
A probe into an interstate child trafficking racket has led to the arrest of 10 more persons including biological parents, traffickers, middlemen, buyers and a hospital owner, while four more children have been rescued, taking the total number of infants recovered in the case to nine, an official said on Friday (July 10, 2026) The latest arrests came over a month after police busted the racket in a decoy operation in central Delhi, when three persons were allegedly caught red-handed while trying to sell a newborn. Police said the fresh arrests exposed an organised network that allegedly procured infants from biological parents and sold them to childless couples for several lakhs in multiple states. "The accused arrested in the latest round include biological parents from Gujarat, alleged traffickers, mediators, adoptive buyers and the owner of a private hospital," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said in a statement. Police have also traced financial transactions running into several lakhs and are examining the money trail through bank accounts, he said. According to police, four more children were rescued during coordinated operations conducted in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
They include a 16-day-old male infant rescued from Rohini in Delhi, a one-month-old male infant from Rishikesh, a one-year-old boy from Mathura and an eight-month-old male infant from Haridwar. The total number of children rescued in the case is nine so far, the officer said. The case came to light on June 5, when a central district police team -acting on specific inputs -carried out a decoy operation near RK Ashram metro station in Paharganj area. During the operation, police apprehended three accused -Jyoti alias Kamlesh, Shalu and Lalit - while they were allegedly attempting to sell a four-to-five-day-old infant to decoy customers arranged by the police. The infant was rescued and police recovered ₹20,000 paid as token money by the decoy buyers. "An FIR was registered at Paharganj police station. Given the seriousness of the case, police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional DCP Prashant Chaudhary. The team included officers from multiple police units, while legal assistance was also taken because of the complexities involved in the investigation," DCP Singh said. Through sustained interrogation of the accused and technical investigation, the team uncovered a larger interstate child trafficking syndicate operating on a "need and supply" model.
The BriefWire