Jalandhar: Dharam Singh, a sevadar working at a cremation ground in Katahara Molla here sold his newborn son to a Delhi-based businessman for Rs 1.5 lakh in order to buy a goods vehicle, police said.
The child was actually sold to the couple for Rs 8 lakhs, out of which the child's father got Rs 1.5 lakhs and the middlemen pocketed the rest.
Some activists belonging to Shiv Sena Rashtravadi outfit did a video sting operation of the deal and called in the police.
Police on Saturday arrested Pooja a nurse working at Jot Nursing Home for facilitating the deal. The father Dharam Singh has also been arrested while a midwife Tara Rani and the businessman Shyam Kumar are yet to be arrested.
A case under Prevention of Human Trafficking Act has been lodged and a team of policemen has left for Delhi to recover the child.
Dharam Singh told police that he had five children, out of which a girl died, and he gave away another child for adoption. He got Rs 1.5 lakh cash for the newborn and out of this he paid Rs 1,09,000 to Cargo Motors, to buy a goods vehicle. Police have recovered the money from the showroom.
The police has also managed to recover the money, which Dharam Singh had deposited at Cargo Motors here to purchase a goods carrier and start a new business.
Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), West, said the families did not follow proper legal procedure for adoption.
