Child trafficking racket busted in West Bengal: 4 more booked from Kolkata

The CID on Monday conducted raid at a privately-run hospital under Baduria Police Station limits in North 24 Parganas district and nabbed eight persons.

Three newborn babies, two out of which were packed in a biscuit-packing case, were also rescued from the nursing home during the CID operation.

After interrogating the arrested, CID officials raided two private hospitals in Kolkata's Behala and College Street areas on Wednesday and booked the owner-administrator of those hospitals.

"We have arrested the owners of Behala's South View Nursing Home, Putul Banerjee and Probha Pramanik, and the administrator-owner of Shree Krishna Nursing Home at College Street area- Paramita Chatterjee- for their strong connection with a child trafficking racket," a senior official of CID told IBNS.

Meanwhile, a nearly 60-years-old doctor was also held in the same case on Wednesday, according to reports.

"Our officers have booked a senior doctor- Santosh Kumar Samanta- for his direct involvement in child trafficking. The doctor is a resident of South Dumdum area and associated with College Street's Shri Krishna Nursing Home," the official further said.

According to CID sources, at least four private nursing homes in Kolkata and several persons, including few physicians, are under the scanner of this probe agency as a part of its ongoing investigation into the child trafficking case.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)

In image: How the newborn babies were kept in a packing case.