HIGHLIGHTS
Kavita Tokas ran the illegal operation under the guise of her surrogacy centre
On Sept 20, Kavita Tokas was arrested and sent to police remand
The gang behind the crime stole sperm samples & eggs from IVF centres
What caught the attention of Delhi Police's Crime Branch as a childtrafficking racket, turned out to be an even more abominable operation.
The gang behind the crime also stole sperm samples and eggs from IVF centres in the Capital and sold these to childless couples who would come to the surrogacy centre run by its mastermind.
The alleged 'queen-pin' of this racket, Kavita Tokas, wife of a paramilitary officer, apparently ran the illegal operation under the guise of her surrogacy centre. She was arrested on September 20 and sent to police remand.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajeev Ranjan said, "Ten arrests have already been made. The investigation is on. During the course of the investigation new revelations can be expected. Right now, what we know is that this racket was active since 2016."
The Crime Branch says that Tokas's accomplices stole sperms and eggs from IVF centres in the city, which she later sold to childless couples.
A woman capable of giving birth would have the fertilised egg transplanted in her uterus. How Tokas managed to do this has not been established yet.
"We are trying to find out if she had links with any IVF centres that carried out the procedures for her illegally," said a Crime Branch source.
For those who were not capable of conceiving, Tokas would arrange a surrogate mother for Rs 1 lakh and the couple would have to pay another Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the baby after it was born, as per the police.
Crime Branch sources said the police was tipped off about 45 days ago about a big racket being run in the name of a surrogacy centre.
The Crime Branch team, posing as decoy customers, contacted one Jahangir who sold babies with Tokas. They were asked to meet him at Naraina Vihar on August 14 - where a "party" from Haryana would arrive to hand over the infant against a payment of Rs 4 lakh.
"When the car reached the spot, Uttam Nagar property dealer Rohit and his wife Jyoti were inside with Jahangir and the infant boy. When the child was handed over, the police grabbed Jahangir, but the others sped off," said Ranjan.
They were, however, arrested later. The infant caught in the middle of this transaction was born prematurely to a minor girl in Haryana who had to keep her pregnancy secret.
He was in a bad shape and was admitted to a leading Delhi hospital, but could not survive even 10 days "as he was born prematurely at home and had not even fed on his mother's milk," said police.
The baby was initially sold to one Shakila, who re-sold him to another woman, Mithila, for Rs 20,000.
Jahangir was the third buyer who was trying to sell the baby for Rs 4 lakh. Both Shakila and Mithila have also been arrested. These arrests led them to Jitender Dubey, manager of the surrogacy centre run by Tokas in Munirka.
Dubey was the gobetween who would strike the deals with those who sold the babies and bought them. Dubey's arrest also led to the identification and arrests of couples who had allegedly purchased children from this gang.