Major child trafficking racket busted in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Feb 9: The Bengaluru Police on Monday busted a syndicate which had illegally sent at least 32 children to the United States over the last few years.

After simultaneous raids across the City, the police arrested 16 people. The accused had created ‘fake parents’ for these children and got documents prepared for procuring passport and visa.

Uday Pratap Singh (44), a resident of Jayamahal, is suspected to be the kingpin of the racket. More arrests are expected shortly in Bengaluru and elsewhere across the country. The police have decided to contact the US Consulate in?Chennai and officials in the US to ascertain the whereabouts of the 32 children. The police suspect existence of such syndicates in many major cities in India.

Though the exact motive of the syndicate is still not clear, preliminary inquiry has indicated that the arrested and their absconding associates collected hefty sums from Indians illegally over-staying in the US and translocated their children living in India to the US. The syndicate charged Rs 25 lakh to send one child to the US. The police are verifying bank details to unearth more information. People from Gujarat and Punjab overstaying in the US are said to have paid the syndicate to get their children over.

Singh had admitted that the syndicate had sent 32 children to the US and that the children were united with their parents in the US. “We are not ready to buy Singh’s theory.?He might have sent the children as part of trafficking for human organs.?

There could also be a few cases of illegal adoptions. The truth will come out during the probe,” said ACP (East)?P?Harishekharan, who headed the Special Investigation Team.

Meanwhile, US Consulate General officials in Chennai said they were coordinating with the investigation team. Though, the authorities refused to disclose the details exchanged with the Bengaluru Police, officials said.

“We are closely looking into all the allegations. Since, it is under investigation, we cannot reveal anything at this point of time,” the officials added.