LUDHIANA, India, April 25 (UPI) -- A newborn boy in Ludhiana, India, has been sold for $830 to a New Delhi couple in a Facebook deal, officials said.

The alleged deal was uncovered when the infant's mother, Nooran, made a complaint to police that her baby went missing from the hospital where he was born, The Indian Express reported.


The report said the boy allegedly was sold to Amit Kumar, who wanted to adopt a baby with his wife, and the deal was made by a hospital attendant named Gurpreet.

The Indian Express said police have arrested Gurpreet, the boy's maternal grandfather Feroze Khan, his friend Irfan and nurse Sunita Rani, but Kumar was not yet in custody.

The infant was recovered from Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi and returned to his mother, the report said.

"A few months ago, I separated from my husband and came to my parents house," the mother said. "On April 14, I gave birth to a boy at Satyam Hospital. After delivery, I was told that my baby is dead. Later on, some people at the hospital told me that my father had sold the baby to nurse Sunita Rani."

Nooran's father, an alleged drug addict, told the police he wanted to get the baby adopted as he did not want the expense of raising a child, the report said.