'Joka Millennium old age home and rehab centre' owner Bimal Adhikari (61) of Green Park Hans Pukur in Thakurpukur Police Station limits was arrested during a raid by a team of CID sleuths tonight, a top CID official told PTI.
Tonight's arrest took the total number of persons arrested in case to 16 with seven of them being women.
CID rescued 10 babies, all girl children ranging from one to ten months old, during a raid from the third floor of 'Purbasha', an old age home for mentally challenged at Kolagachhiya under Thakurpukur police station, Rajesh Kumar, ADG and IGP, state CID told reporters here in the afternoon.
"An initial probe revealed that at least 50 infants have been sold from the home and the number could be more. We are looking into it. CID is also trying to find out the buyers of these babies," he said.
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During interrogation, it surfaced that culprits involved in this racket used to bury the babies, who had died while being shifted from one hiding place to another, he said.
Stating that the racket may have gone international, Kumar said the CID sleuths also seized foreign currencies in Euro, USD and Hong Kong Dollar and gold ornaments including coins worth several lakhs from the possession of accused Partha Chatterjee, owner of a nursing home in north Kolkata.
The CID also arrested Reena Banerjee, daughter of Putul Banerjee, who was taken into custody two days back in this connection, while two women were detained during the early morning raid at the old age home, he said.
CID sources said that these babies were recently shifted by one of the accused who is at large.
The arrested have been booked under Sections 369 (kidnapping or abducting child under ten years), 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC, Kumar said.
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