Indian authorities said on Thursday they have sealed a home run by Mother Teresa's religious order and charged a nun and one other person with baby trafficking.

The home in eastern India's Jharkhand state is run by Missionaries of Charity, the order set up by Mother Teresa in India, and provides shelter for pregnant unmarried women.

"They have said that at least five to six babies have been sold to childless couples," police officer Aman Kumar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.

"We are investigating to see how the operation was run and how many more children have been given away in the last few years."

The Missionaries of Charity did not respond to calls for comment.

Arti Kujur, head of the Jharkhand State Child Protection Society, said the home was charging between 40,000 Indian rupees (about R7,835,50) and 100,000 rupees for each baby, depending on what the childless couple could afford.