Indian Orphanage Dupes Foreigners by Promising to Sell Babies

The arrested officials of the orphanage confessed having duped many foreigners; claimed the involvement of politicians in the racket.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — An orphanage in India's eastern state of West Bengal had been trafficking children to foreigners in the most deceitful manner. The orphanage not only sold infants to foreigners but also duped many of them by promising a baby but not handing them over despite receiving hefty amount of money for the deal.

Two women, Chandana Chakraborty, who runs the NGO — North Bengal People's Development Centre, and Sonali Mondal, chief adoption officer with the NGO, were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Sunday.

Upon interrogation, the duo reportedly confessed having duped couples from the US, Singapore, Spain and France, besides India. They confessed to have received US$ 15,000 from an American couple and US$ 6,000 from and Indian couple for the same infant but did not give it to either. They also sold a baby for US$ 3,000 to a couple from Singapore. But the police suspect they have more stories to tell.

The orphanage was affiliated to India's Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), India's apex adoption monitor. However, the orphanage was not properly reporting details of children taken in and given out for adoption. The CARA smelt rat and complained to the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department which carried out a crackdown on the orphanage, arresting the two officials.

According to local media outlets, Chandana Chakraborty, the arrested owner of the NGO, claimed that she was not alone in the crime but that a number of politicians at the local level and the center were involved in the racket. While she was being handcuffed by the police, she threatened to expose "politicians who were trying to frame her in order to save their own faces."

After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee vowed to crackdown on child trafficking in the state, the Criminal Investigation Department has arrested 21 people from three different districts for allegedly being directly involved or abetting the trafficking of newborns.

As per a report by the National Human Rights Commission of India, 10% of human trafficking in India is international.