In a development in the newborn girl selling incident here, four persons, including the nursing home owner, were arrested by the police on Saturday. The arrestees were Surya Nursing Home proprietor Iftekar Alam, ASHA Worker Annapurna Moharana, hospital sweeper SK Manas and the newborn’s buyer SK Shabbington. They were arrested under Sections 317, 109 and 81 of the Juvenile Justice Act, informed Kendrapada district SP Dayanidhi Gochhayat.
Notably, the baby girl was allegedly sold by her parents for Rs 7,500 on August 1 for paying the medical expenses for delivery at the nursing home.
A resident of Righagarh village under Rajnagar block Nirakar Moharana had taken his pregnant wife Gitanjali to the District Headquarters Hospital where doctors referred her to Surya Nursing Home for delivery. Gitanjali delivered a baby girl at the clinic. However, the clinic authorities demanded the couple to pay Rs 7,500 towards medical expenses.
When the couple expressed their helplessness to pay the medical charges, the clinic staff arranged a buyer for selling the baby girl. Finally, the baby was sold for Rs 7,500.