Trafficking Ring Busted: Surrogate Mother Among Three Involved in Khanapara Kidnapping!

The city police busted a major child trafficking ring after apprehending three suspects, including a professional egg donor from the Indira IVF clinic in Guwahati, who were found to have been directly involved in the kidnapping of an 18-month-old baby girl from the Khanapara flyover in Guwahati earlier Sunday morning.

The abducted child was later rescued by the city police team led by ACP, Dispur at around 11:15 pm.

Addressing the media, Guwahati Commissioner of Police, Diganta Barah said, “The father of the baby girl namely Ashok Shah (28) residing at Koinadhara, Khanapara, Basistha Police Station, Kamrup (M), Assam, filed an FIR reporting that his 18-month-old daughter was abducted at around 12:30 PM on Sunday by an unknown person who used to frequently visit his tea stall at Khanapara for having tea. He mentioned in the FIR that the unknown perpetrator had previously inquired about available rental rooms in the vicinity. On the basis of the FIR, a case was registered at Dispur police station vide Case no. 118/2024, under section 365 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and without wasting any time the Police team from East district swung into action to recover the missing child.”

The Commissioner informed that the father of the child, Ashok Shah, provided crucial information about the possible involvement of a suspect.  

“The suspect, who was later on identified as Biswajit Das alias Sameer Dey, developed a friendly acquaintance with the complainant Ashok Shah, his wife and their daughter (abducted child) by frequently visiting their tea stall located at Khanapara.  Though the complainant did not know the name of the culprit, but he could provide crucial details of the suspect.  Based on technical analysis and also on human intelligence inputs, the suspects Biswajit Das, a mobile repairing mechanic and his wife Sabita Dey were picked up by Police team.  On spot interrogation, the suspects revealed that they had kept the child in the custody of one Jelimon Begum, a professional egg donor at her rented house in Lal Ganesh under Fatsil Ambari PS.  Following this information, the missing child was successfully located in the possession of Jelimon Begum at her residence and rescued by the Police team led by ACP, Dispur last night,” added Barah.

Modus Operandi

The police investigation further revealed that accused Biswajit Das and his wife Sabita Dey resides at Lal Ganesh under Fatasil-Ambari PS.

“The wife of the accused, Sabita Dey maintained a friendship with Jelimon Begum who resides at rented accommodation at Lal Ganesh, Milan Nagar.  Jelimon Begum came in contact with an agent who offered her to act as a surrogate mother at Hyderabad. Jelimon Begum went to Hyderabad as facilitated by the agent but her surrogacy failed as she didn’t conceive. Later, in Hyderabad, she was introduced to another person (originally hailing from Assam) who in turn introduced her to an agency run by a person from Hyderabad which provides child to childless couples for adoption. The agent in Hyderabad tasked Jelimon Begum with finding children in Assam, whose parents are not in a position to raise them, for adoption by childless couples, for which Jelimon Begum was promised handsome amount of money. Accordingly, Jelimon Begum, after returning to Assam few months back, informed Sabita Dey and Biswajit Das to look for such child who can be given to the agents in Hyderabad. Biswajit was in debt as he did not have any permanent source of income. He orchestrated a plan to abduct the baby girl from Ashok Shah's tea stall in Khanapara, taking the help of one Niki Boro, a tea preparer at the stall,” added the Commissioner of police.

The police commissioner however, mentioned that Niki Boro does not have any connivance in this abduction plan. She is basically an orphan and a drug addict who keeps wandering in and around Khanapara area.

“Since she also stays in the tea stall sometimes playing with the abducted Girl Child, accused Biswajit Das hatched a plan to use her for taking the girl child from the possession of her parents.  Accordingly Biswajit asked Niki Boro to bring the Child to take the abducted Child for a ride. Niki Boro, not knowing the intention of the accused Biswajit Das took the child from the shop and handed over the child to accused Biswajit.  Once the child was in the possession of the accused, he took her to Fatasil Ambari area and with the help of his wife Sabita Dey. The baby girl was later handed over to the accused Jelimon Begum,” the top cop asserted.

The third accuded Jelimon Begum confessed to devising a plot to procure a child from Assam and transport to her agent, based in Hyderabad.

“As disclosed by Jelimon Begum, the agent is involved in facilitating adoptions for childless couples or for reasons that remain undisclosed.  Jelimon Begum also confessed to her collaboration with accused Biswajit Das and his wife Sabita Dey, in executing this plan in consideration of some money,” the Commissioner said further.

Meanwhile, the city's police commissioner, Diganta Barah, said that a large nexus of inter-state child trafficking rackets operate from other states, with woman like Jelimon Begum acting as middleman in Assam.

Thus, the police official also warned the inhabitants of the city to keep cautious and not allow their children to approach a stranger.

Also Read: Guwahati: Dispur Police Rescue Kidnapped Baby From Khanapara