A two-day-old baby was rescued from a couple who had allegedly trafficked her from Patna.

The anti-human trafficking unit of the state CID conducted a raid outside Shalimar railway station in Howrah early on Sunday and rescued the baby from the couple, who were arrested.

CID officials identified the accused duo as Manik Haldar, 38, and Mukul Sarkar, 32, residents of Thakurpukur.

The couple had allegedly purchased the baby in Patna for Rs 1 lakh and smuggled her to Calcutta by train. They were allegedly planning to sell her for Rs 4 lakh, CID officers said.

“Based on a tip-off, two officers posing as a childless couple contacted the racketeers. The price was fixed at Rs 4 lakh. The child was to be handed over on Sunday and the money was to change hands outside Shalimar railway station. We caught them red-handed. The child has been rescued,” said a senior officer in the CID.

Sleuths said the two officers were accompanied by an NGO representative
who pretended to be a relative of the “prospective parents”.

“The child has been shifted to Howrah State General Hospital. The child welfare committee has been informed,” a CID officer said.

“It has been learned that the child was smuggled from Patna and brought to Calcutta in an express train. We are trying to contact officers in Patna to locate the child’s parents or the place from where she was trafficked,” the officer said.

A child trafficking racket was unearthed last year in Narendrapur, on the southern fringes of the city, after a woman and a few others were arrested for allegedly smuggling a newborn.

Many couples find it difficult to raise a kid and give away their children to relatives or friends for better upkeep.

However, accepting money for handing over a child amounts to human trafficking, which is a criminal offence.