Saved: 10 baby girls - Infants brought to Thakurpukur home on Nov 10

The infants rescued from a home for the mentally ill in Thakurpukur (below) early on Friday being taken to a hospital. Pictures by Bibhash Lodh

TT, 25 November 2016, Kolkata: The CID rescued 10 infants from a home for the mentally ill in Thakurpukur early on Friday and arrested its owner, opening up the possibility of infant traffickers using more such facilities as a front for their illegal activities.

The infants, all girls in the age range of one to 10 months, had been taken to that address in the dead of night on November 10, possibly because it was large enough to accommodate several babies at a time and still avoid detection, said CID sleuths investigating the baby-sale racket.

The babies were found lying either on mats laid out on the floor or inside cloth slings in a hall on the top floor of the three-storey home called Purbasha at Kalagachhia in Thakurpukur, 17km from the heart of the city.

The raid had been carried out on the basis of "a specific tip-off", an officer said.

Rina Banerjee, who runs the home, is the daughter of Putul Banerjee, the owner of South View Nursing Home in Behala that has been named as one of the links in the infant trafficking network. Putul was arrested on Wednesday.

The police also arrested Bimal Adhikari, owner of Joka Millenium Old Age Home and Rehabilitation Centre.

The crackdown had started with a raid on Sohan Nursing Home and Polyclinic in Baduria, North 24-Parganas, on Monday night.

The police suspect that business in the illegal adoption market has become sluggish since the demonetisation announcement on November 8. Babies lined up for adoption by bypassing legal procedures are invariably bought and sold in cash. The racket ostensibly took a hit the moment Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender.

"Several prospective parents wanted to pay by cheque, but those involved in the racket wouldn't accept that. It appears the traffickers were waiting for currency flow to get back to normal, which is why so many babies were kept at the Thakurpukur home," a CID officer said.

The investigating agency did not officially confirm the demonetisation angle.

Rajesh Kumar, additional director-general of the CID, said the Thakurpukur home was known to prospective buyers. "They would visit the home before settling on a baby and the deal. We suspect there are more such homes in and around the city being used by those running the baby-sale racket," Kumar said.

The one question that remains unanswered is what prompted the traffickers to keep only girl children in the Thakurpukur home, the CID officer said.

Metro visited the third-floor room where the infants had been kept and found mats still laid out on the floor. Milk powder containers and feeding bottles were kept in a corner of the room. An employee said the infants would be placed on the cloth slings whenever they cried.

Putul's daughter Rina had set up the home in 2009 and registered it with the social welfare department three years ago. The first and second floors of the building are for people battling mental illnesses. Each floor has six rooms and there are currently 32 inmates.

"These patients come mainly from South and North 24-Parganas and Howrah. She (Rina) is well connected and has links with several NGOs," the employee said.

CID sources said Purbasha came under the scanner when Putul was being interrogated. There is a board mentioning the home's name beside the Behala nursing home owned by Putul.

The Baduria nursing home where the crackdown started - three newborns were rescued that night - would charge Rs 2 lakh for a boy and Rs 1 lakh for a girl.

Sources said the babies found in the Thakurpukur home were brought there by a woman, accompanied by two helpers.

The woman left soon after, leaving behind the helpers to look after the babies.