12 Kolkata: The prime accused in the two-day-old girl child trafficking case, Manik Haldar (38), had travelled to Congo and the Maldives and received multiple calls from Egypt in the past two years, raising suspicion that the child trafficking racket might have spread to foreign shores.
"The accused claimed that he got the idea of trading newborns from various IVF centres. He said that he himself created a Facebook page and interacted with childless couples. He offered children for sale not just by their gender, but even by skin colour, lineage, and religion. Once the sale amount was fixed on various social media handles, the accused sent a special number to contact him. The Aadhaar details were verified, and interviews were conducted before the final date of ‘delivery' of the child. We are investigating his linkages with IVF centres," said a CID officer.
Sleuths probing the case said Manik, who was involved with the racket for the past two-and-a-half years, had started visiting foreign countries around two years ago. "He is involved in multiple child-selling deals across the country," said a cop.
Police officers said the accused's name had cropped up in a probe related to Narendrapur police station around 18 months ago. "The accused promised to deliver a baby to a childless couple, received money but did not meet the commitment," said an officer. Bhawani Bhawan is likely to take over the investigation in this case too.
Cops stated that the accused travelled to several states in the country in the past two years, and frequented Bihar multiple times. "It seems likely that he was in contact with foot soldiers in Bihar who supplied him news of newborns and brokered deals for him," said an officer.
Cops stated that both Manik, an AC mechanic by profession, and the co-accused Mukul Haldar, are divorcees. Mukul has claimed that they had got married in a temple. Police suspect it was an arrangement to avoid raising suspicion when Manik was trafficking a child.
CID officials said they were close to tracking the parents of the child who was rescued from Shalimar railway station on Sunday. "A team is stationed at Gaya in Bihar, and we are receiving leads from cops from Bihar," added the officer.
On Sunday morning, Manik and Mukul arrived at Shalimar station via the Duronto Express. They had the two-day-old baby with them. CID officers posted there caught Manik and Mukul red-handed. The rescued child was then sent to Howrah Hospital through the Child Welfare Committee.