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TN health secretary orders probe after audio clip of nurse boasting of ‘selling newborns’ goes viral

In the audio, Amutha, a voluntarily retired nurse from a government hospital, can be heard boasting to a potential customer about how actively she had been involved in this business over the years.

TN health secretary orders probe after audio clip of 'nurse' boasting of selling infants goes viral Police have acknowledged that many gangs in the locality have been actively carrying out this business. (Representational Image)

A day after an audio clip surfaced on social media of a retired nurse striking a deal with a potential customer to sell newborn babies in Tamil Nadu, state Health Secretary Beela Rajesh on Thursday directed the Namakkal district collector to investigate the case. The retired nurse, who has been identified as Amutha, was detained by Rasipuram police officials.

In the audio, Amutha, a voluntarily retired nurse from a government hospital, can be heard boasting to a potential customer about how actively she had been involved in this business over the years. She allegedly served as a middleman in selling newborn babies over the past 30 years.

“I have been doing this business for 30 years. By God’s grace, I haven’t faced any problems. Pay me as much as you can as an advance, I will Whatsapp you the baby’s picture,” she says.

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In the audio, the man from Dharmapuri says he needs a baby and is fine with both male or female. To this, the woman says the price differs from a male to a female child and the skin tone of the baby also plays a crucial role.

“If you need a girl, then the price would be Rs 2.70 lakh. If the baby is close to three kilos, then the price would go up to Rs 3 lakh. If you need an Amul baby (a fat male baby with whitish complexion), then the price would range from Rs 4 – 4.15 lakh. If the baby is darker, then the price may reduce to Rs 3.30 – 3.75 lakh,” she says.

Festive offer

“For an additional cost of Rs 70,000, I can get you the original birth certificate. We can make as if the child was born to you here in Rasipuram. The municipal authorities will forge the document and they will upload it online,” she adds.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Namakkal SP Ara. Arularasu, said, “Amudha is a middle-broker. She doesn’t sell the babies directly to the concerned party, there are plenty of brokers involved in this business. We are on the process of identifying the family who sold their baby to this women.”

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Arularasu said Amudha has confessed that she has sold three babies illegally so far through brokers, and added that there are other players involved this business. “She has been doing this business here in Namakkal and in Salem, but there is a huge network behind this process,” he said.

Arularasu added the brokers target the fertility clinics and identify the couple who are in desperate need of a baby. “They target these couples who are clearly told by the doctors that they cannot become parents naturally. These brokers talk to them and convince them to get involved in this act. After they seal the deal with the buyer, they identify the seller and sell the baby,” he said. Arularasu said Amudha will be remanded on Friday.

Janardhan Koushik is Deputy Copy Editor of indianexpress.com. He is a New Media journalist with over five years of reporting experience in the industry. He has a keen interest in politics, sports, films, and other civic issues. Janardhan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from SRM Arts and Science College and a PG Diploma in New Media from Asian College of Journalism, one of the top ranked journalism schools in India. He started his career with India Today group as a sub-editor as part of the sports team in 2016. He has also a wide experience as a script-writer having worked for short-films, pilot films as well as a radio jockey cum show producer while contributing for an online Tamil FM. As a multilingual journalist, he actively tracks the latest development in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry utiling his well-established networks to contribute significantly to breaking news stories. He has also worked as a sports analyst for Star Sports. ... Read More

First uploaded on: 26-04-2019 at 07:26 IST
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