TN: Bid to sell infant for Rs. 30,000

TIRUCHY: A 10-month-old baby was rescued by the Tiruchy police, 34 hours after he was allegedly stolen by his grandfather. The grandfather had handed over the infant to some persons, who, in turn, sold him to a couple looking for a male child.On Sunday, A Rajeswari lodged a police complaint that her baby boy Sarveswaran was missing. She told the police that her father-in-law Marimuthu (60) had taken the child out.Later, acting on a tip-off, a special team went to Tiruppur, where they rescued the baby and arrested Mariammal, her parents, a housemaid and another woman Ramya, who was close to Kannan, a neighbour of Marimuthu in Tiruchy. “Since the couple Mariammal and Jithan had three female children, Mariammal’s mother Sulochana suggested that they ‘buy’ a male baby, for which they approached Ramya through Valarmathi. They had planned to buy the baby for `30,000”, said Tiruchy Police Commissioner Shailesh Kumar Yadav. He said that Kannan, who had an affair with Ramya, had tempted Marimuthu, a habitual drinker, to give him his grandson. He later handed over Sarves­waran to Mariammal throu­gh Ramya. On Monday, police arrested Marimuthu and Venkatesan, neighbour of Marimuthu, who had allegedly aided the kidnappers. Both Kannan and Jithan are absconding. On Tuesday, the baby was handed over the parents.