Chamarajanagar /Mysuru: Five persons, including the parents and foster parents of a six-month-old baby girl and an outsourced staff member of Cheluvamba Hospital in Mysuru, have been arrested on charges of selling a baby in the district recently.

The accused are Manju Nayaka, his wife Sindhu of Kurubara Beedhi, Ramasamudra in Chamarajanagar town, Shanthamma, the outsourced ‘D’ Group staff of Cheluvamba Hospital, Jawaraiah and his wife Nethra, of Konanur, Arkalgud taluk, in Hassan.

The incident came to light following a complaint lodged by Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of Chamarajanagar, with the Town Police on Sept. 9, 2025. He had suspected something fishy when the couple failed to come forth with the whereabouts of the baby during the initial stages of enquiry.

CDPO complainant

In his complaint, CDPO had stated that Sindhu had delivered a girl child at Chamarajanagar District Hospital on July 26, but the infant was not with her parents. Following this, a case had been registered under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

Manju Nayaka couple, who had gone absconding for six months, were traced through the aid of technical and scientific investigation methods and taken into custody by the Police on Jan. 23.

Baby rescued

During interrogation, the couple revealed that they had sold the baby to the Jawaraiah couple, through Shanthamma, who had brokered the deal, for Rs. 50,000. Shanthamma had got Rs. 20,000 as her share of commission, it is said.

The baby has been rescued and handed over to the custody of the Women and Child Development Department and is healthy. The accused were produced before the Court and were remanded to judicial custody.

Chamarajanagar Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Muthuraju, Additional SP M.N. Shashidhar and Dy.SP, Chamarajanagar Sub-Division, N. Sneha Raj, supervised the investigation.

The investigation team included Inspector M. Jagadish, PSI R. Manjunath and staff. Following the successful investigation, SP Muthuraju has also announced a reward for the investigation team.

Action against staff

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Dr. R. Sudha, Medical Superintendent of Cheluvamba Hospital, said that following media reports about the involvement of a ‘D’ Group staff of the hospital, a letter has been written to the agency that provides outsourcing service and also to the Dean and Director of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI), for further action.

The accused staff will be removed from the job, she added.