Udupi, Sept 4: A disturbing case of child trafficking has come to light in Udupi district, exposing a nexus of exploitation involving a vulnerable rape survivor, a couple seeking to adopt, and medical professionals who allegedly facilitated the crime. Police say a four-day-old baby girl, born to a 22-year-old rape survivor with mental health challenges, was sold for ₹4.5 lakh in a private hospital in Mangaluru earlier this month.
The arrests of Dr. Somesh Solomon, Vijayalakshmi alias Vijaya, and 25-year-old Navaneet Narayan have thrown light on a deeply troubling racket. Udupi Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar said the case was registered on August 21 after a Child Development Project Officer flagged irregularities in a birth record. A couple from Kallugudde, who had been married for years without children, were claiming parentage of a baby born on August 3. The suspicion triggered a detailed investigation.
According to the police, Prabhavati and her husband Ramesh Moolya had long sought to adopt a child. Through a relative, they came into contact with Vijayalakshmi, who assured them she could arrange one. Vijayalakshmi, who runs a hospital canteen and a paying guest accommodation in Mangaluru, had at the time provided shelter to a woman and her daughter — the daughter being the 22-year-old survivor. The survivor was already four months pregnant when she was taken in.
It was here that Dr. Somesh, who runs a polyclinic in BC Road, allegedly entered the picture. To erase all traces of the survivor’s pregnancy, her medical scans were fraudulently conducted using Prabhavati’s Aadhaar card. The deception created a fabricated record of pregnancy in the would-be adoptive mother’s name. When the baby was delivered through a C-section, the infant was handed over to Prabhavati and Ramesh in exchange for money. The survivor, meanwhile, was discharged without adequate postnatal care.
Police investigations also revealed that the survivor had been sexually assaulted, allegedly by Navaneet Narayan, who has now been arrested. Her medical treatment is ongoing, and her testimony regarding the assault has been recorded.
The case has been booked under Section 81 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2016, along with provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Officials believe the crime may not be an isolated instance. “There are indications that Vijayalakshmi could have been involved in other such cases,” SP Shankar said.
Beyond the immediate arrests, the case highlights systemic vulnerabilities — the desperation of childless couples, the exploitation of survivors of sexual violence, and the complicity of those in positions of medical authority. Investigators are now looking into whether this was part of a larger network of baby trafficking operating under the guise of private healthcare and informal adoption channels.
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