West Bengal child trafficking: Another doctor held, arrests mount to 18

According to reports, Tapan Biswas was associated with Sohan Nursing Home in North 24 Parganas' Baduria, which was the operation base of child trafficking, and strongly involved with the baby trafficking racket.

"Doctor Tapan Biswas, who was absconding since the racket was busted, has been booked yesterday midnight from Sree Pally area under Memari Police Station limits in Burdwan district for his direct involvement with the child trafficking racket," a senior official of CID told IBNS.

Meanwhile, police from Thakurpukur Police Station on Saturday late evening detained an old-age home's coordinator, Basanti Chakraborty, in connection with the case and later handed over to the CID.

Earlier on Monday night, CID unearthed a child trafficking racket at privately-run Sohan Nursing Home under Baduria Police Station limits in North 24 Parganas district and arrested eight persons, including the nursing home owner, in connection with the case.

Three newborn babies, two out of which were placed in biscuit-packing case, were rescued from a damp room in the nursing home.

After interrogating the eight arrested, the CID later booked five more persons, including 60-year-old doctor Santosh Kumar Samanta, administrator of Kolkata's M. G. Road's Shri Krishna Nursing Home Paramita Chatterjee, its owner Partha Chatterjee and owners of South View Nursing Home in city's Behala area- Putul Banerjee and Probha Bhawmick.

After getting inputs from Putul Banerjee, CID raided an old-age home in Kolkata's Thakurpukur area and rescued ten baby girls, aged between 1 to 10 months.

Home's owner- Rina Banerjee- and a staffer of the old-age home were arrested.

Those babies, who were kept in an insalubrious place since last few months, have been admitted to Joka ESI hospital.

According to hospital sources, all ten babies are suffering from several diseases and infections.

"We are suspecting that one of the ten babies is Thalassemia affected, four of them are suffering from pneumonia and remaining others have several infections and high fever," a doctor of Joka ESI hospital told IBNS.

"As the babies did not have breast-milk after birth, they are suffering from malnutrition and these babies do not have disease resistance power," the doctor added.

Meanwhile, CID officials on Friday dug a garden at Maslandapur, behind the accused NGO- Sujit Dutta Memorial Welfare Trust- office, and recovered bones and skulls of at least two babies, which have been sent for post mortem and forensic tests.

According to CID sources, several nursing homes and few popular doctors, based in Bengal's North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Burdwan and Nadia districts, are under the probe agency's scanner as a part of this ongoing investigation.

However, doctor Tapan Biswas and old-age home's coordinator Basanti Chakraborty, who were held on Saturday, will be produced to a special court on Sunday.

The CID has already arrested 16 persons in connection with the racket and they are in CID custody.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)