A 43-year-old dentist from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Rashmi Bannerjee, has been arrested by Wadala TT police for allegedly purchasing two children from a Mumbai-based child trafficking network and subjecting them to physical abuse. The accused reportedly sought to raise these children without following any legal adoption procedures.
The case first emerged last August when a senior citizen reported his missing son-in-law and grandson. Investigations revealed that Anil Ganesh Purvaiya, the son-in-law, was the prime accused who sold his two-year-old son for Rs 1.8 lakh. Purvaiya was arrested along with two women from Chembur, Asha Pawar and Asma Shaikh, to whom he sold the child.
Both women are habitual offenders with prior involvement in child trafficking. Sharif Shaikh, Asha’s boyfriend and the alleged transporter of trafficked children, remains absconding. Asma Shaikh acted as the middle-woman in these illicit transactions.
Though the initial arrests were made last year, the trafficked child was untraced until recently. Police received intelligence that the child was with a woman in Odisha. A police team tracked down Rashmi Bannerjee’s residence in Uttarpara, West Bengal, where they found two children with visible bruises indicating abuse.
The two-year and eight-month-old boy, covered in bruises, and a four-year-old girl were rescued. The girl was placed under the Child Welfare Committee’s care in Kolkata, while the boy was transferred to Mumbai’s Sion Hospital for treatment and is now in his grandfather’s care. The girl was purchased by Bannerjee as an infant for Rs 4 lakh.
Officials noted the boy referred to Bannerjee as ‘Ma’ but reported frequent beatings. “He often felt hungry, which irritated her,” said a police official. Medical experts are assessing the boy for possible psychological trauma.
All accused have been charged with child trafficking offenses. Bannerjee is in police custody pending further investigation, while the earlier arrested suspects remain lodged in Byculla jail. Police plan to interrogate them to uncover more details about the trafficking network.
