A grandfather in India was arrested this week after selling his newborn grandson on Facebook.
Feroz Khan, 47, of Ludhiana city in the northwestern state of Punjab, allegedlykidnapped his daughter Noori’s son from the hospital shortly after he was born on April 3, according to Punjab Newsline. He told Noori that her son had died.
With the help of two temporary employees at the hospital where his daughter gave birth, Khan arranged a deal on Facebook to sell his baby grandson for 45,000 rupees ($830), according to the Agence France-Presse.
The newborn baby was sold to Amit Kumar of New Delhi, according to the Telegraph. Noori filed a police report that her son had been kidnapped.
“We acted upon the complaint of the mother, who alleged that her child was stolen from the nursing home in Ludhiana,” Ishwar Singh, Ludhiana’s Commissioner of Police, told the Telegraph. “After investigations, we found the grandfather of the child had struck a deal with a man in Delhi and had roped-in the nursing staff to smuggle the baby out of the nursing home. We have arrested four people including the grandfather. We have also booked the buyer from Delhi.”
Police found the baby at Facebook buyer Kumar’s Ranjit Nagar home on Tuesday, according to the Hindustan Times. The baby was ill and undergoing treatment at Sir Gangaram Hospital.
“All three people who conspired to sell the child have been arrested and we will be interrogating the businessman who paid the money to buy the baby,” Satish Malhotra, a senior police officer in Ludhiana, told AFP. The three face seven years in jail if convicted for kidnapping.
Punjab Newsline reports that Khan wanted his daughter, who divorced her husband last year, to get an abortion when she became pregnant. His plan to sell the baby on Facebook was apparently part of “a bid to facilitate the second marriage of his daughter,” according to Punjab Newsline.