Newborn Baby Rescued from $7,500 Trafficking Scheme in Mumbai

On August 6, 2025, the Shivaji Nagar police in Mumbai busted a child trafficking case, arresting three women and rescuing a six-day-old baby. The operation was initiated after a Thane-based social activist, Binu Varghese, approached the police with information about a newborn being sold in the Shivaji Nagar slum.

Mayuri Vannam, a 29-year-old resident of Yeor village, Thane West, had been in contact with a man named Sameer, who was offering to sell a newborn child for Rs 4 lakh. An initial advance of Rs 10,000 had already been paid to Sameer. However, on August 6th, Sameer informed Vannam that the expected female child was unavailable, but he could provide a male infant for Rs 5.5 lakh.

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Vannam, Varghese, and a police team set up a decoy operation. Vannam maintained communication with Sameer, who then directed her to contact a woman named Nasreen, later identified as Nazima Aslam Sheikh. At Lotus Junction, two women arrived carrying the infant, and when they demanded the agreed-upon Rs 5.5 lakh, the police team moved in and detained them.

The arrested women, Nazima Aslam Sheikh and Fatima Mehmud Ali Sheikh, both from Rafiknagar, Govandi, confessed that the infant had been handed over to them by Sameer, and that Rs 50,000 had already been received as an advance payment. The proceeds were to be split between Sameer, the baby's biological parents, and Nazima herself.

The six-day-old baby was taken into protective custody and later transferred to child welfare authorities. Police are currently searching for the absconding Sameer and are also investigating the role of the infant's biological parents, Sumaya and Irfan Khan, as well as the hospital's involvement in the case.