MALDA: Even before it was born, Pradyot and Ruma's second child was sold by them for Rs 30,000. Nobody in the couple's respective families had objected till then; hence the deal remained a secret.

But once the baby turned out to be a boy, all hell broke loose. Ruma's parents ran to the police station, blaming Pradyot and his family for selling their grandson.

Ruma, the youngest daughter of Manohar and Mamata Sharma of Sovanagar, was married to Pradyot of Krishnapally about four years ago. The couple has a three-year-old daughter. When she became pregnant again, Pradyot, a smalltime trader, said he could not afford to bring up another child and asked Ruma to abort the foetus.

Their neighbours Mithun and Sikha Halder, who are childless, came to know of this and asked them not to abort the foetus and instead give them once the child was born. Both families agreed to this. Mithun, a plumber, allegedly gave Pradyot Rs 30,000 for the baby and agreed to bear all charges of Ruma's treatment for the last four months.

On Sunday evening, Ruma got admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital with labour pain. Ruma's parents, too, were present in hospital.

According to plans, Ruma was registered as 'Sikha Halder' and her husband's name was recorded as 'Mithun Halder'. This was to avoid legal problems in getting the baby and to keep the record in the birth certificate straight. Early on Monday morning, Ruma gave birth to a boy.

This at once led to a change of heart on the part of Ruma's parents. They refused to give up the baby and ran to English Bazaar police station instead, claiming that their son-in-law Pradyot and his family members had sold their grandson even before he had been born.

Police started a probe on Monday but did not arrest anyone. Mithun reportedly admitted the charges made by Ruma's parents. Sikha, who reached the hospital on Monday morning, broke down in tears once the plan failed. "I had to return home empty-handed," she cried.

Pradyot, however, denied the charge of selling the unborn baby though he admitted that he had not wanted it. Ruma, who was yet to come around, was obviously unaware of all this.

"We have not arrested anyone but started an investigation on the basis of the allegation," said SP Rupesh Kumar.

