Bhubaneswar, Jul 28 (PTI) Police in Odisha’s Bolangir district on Monday rescued a 28-day-old baby girl who was allegedly sold by her parents for Rs 20,000 due to extreme poverty, officials said.
The infant was recovered from the home of a couple in Paikamal, Bargarh district, and handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Titlagarh sub-divisional police officer Kalyan Behera confirmed.
Although no formal complaint has been filed, the matter is under preliminary investigation. “We have not detained or arrested anyone yet,” Behera stated.
CWC in-charge chairperson Lina Babu said the top priority was ensuring the baby’s safety. “An official probe will be initiated today and an FIR will follow,” she said.
The case surfaced on Sunday in Bagdera village under Bhaleigaon Panchayat, where Nila and Kanak Rana, a financially distressed couple, allegedly gave away their daughter. According to police, both parents are remarried; Nila has three daughters from his first marriage, and Kanak has one daughter from a previous union.
While the Paikamal couple denied paying for the child, they claimed they took her in out of compassion. “We did not buy her. We took the baby because her biological parents were too poor to raise her,” they said.
Nila Rana echoed the sentiment before the CWC, stating, “We have not sold her. We gave her away for her better future, not for money.”
This incident follows a similar case in November 2024, when another newborn girl was rescued after reportedly being sold by her mother to a private hospital in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.