Cops foil bid to sell boy for Rs 50,000

The police on Saturday arrested a married couple, for allegedly trying to sell an abducted eight-month-old boy to another couple for Rs 50,000. The other couple as well as the middleman in the deal were also nabbed and the boy, Neeraj, handed over to his parents.

Roshan Lal, 30, and his wife, Seema, 25, both residents of Ratta Nau Abad of Kapurthala district, had kidnapped Neeraj from Pattarkalana village on Kartarpur-Kapurthala Road on Thursday. Neeraj is the son of a labourer.

According to the police, Roshan and Seema hatched the abduction plan after their acquaintance Sanjeev Kumar, 24 told them that he knew Amreek Singh, 48, and his wife Paramjit Kaur, 47, who wanted to adopt a boy, and were ready to pay good money for it. Amreek and Paramjit are residents of Parah village near Kartarpur. Neeraj and his parents live on the outskirt of the village.

"After kidnapping the child, Roshan and Seema contacted Sanjeev, who arranged their meeting with Amreek," inquiry officer Sulakhan Singh said. "Roshan and Seema told Amreek that Neeraj's parents wanted to give him up for adoption as they could not bring him up due to poverty. Roshan demanded Rs 1 lakh for the boy."

However, Amreek agreed to pay Rs 50,000 and had given Rs 10,000 in advance, said Sulakhan. "Roshan and Seema kept the child in Rajjapur village where they were to hand over the child to Amreek on Saturday."

When the deal was to take place, the police reached the spot and foiled their bid.

The accused were booked for abduction, criminal conspiracy and selling and buying of a minor.