The Ranchi centre of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, has been accused of selling infant from the shelter home run by it in the Jharkhand capital. (Photo: Reuters)

Jharkhand government has launched a probe into the allegations that the Missionary of Charity, the organisation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, has been selling infants and babies in Ranchi. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has launched an investigation after being approached by a "defrauded" couple.

The matter came to light after staffers at Missionaries of Charity took away an infant from a couple, who had paid Rs 1.2 lakh for the 14-day child. The couple approached the Child Welfare Committee in Ranchi complaining against the Mother Teresa-founded organisation.

A woman staffer has been arrested and two others, including a sister-in-charge, detained for questioning in this connection. They are accused of selling a child born to an inmate of a shelter home that is run by the Missionaries of Charity.

The accused arrested by police has been identified as Anima Indwar. She worked at Nirmal Hriday, the office of the Missionaries of Charity. She was arrested on a complaint filed by Rupa Verma, who heads the Child Welfare Committee's Ranchi unit.

According to her complaint, a couple from Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh approached the Child Welfare Committee after Nirmal Hriday allegedly took away the child it had earlier given them on May 14. The couple told Verma that they paid Rs 1.2 lakh on May 1 to get the boy's custody.

The UP couple had got the custody of the child from the Missionaries of Charity staffer on May 14. They had been called by the staffer to visit the Missionaries of Charity again on July 1 to complete formalities. But as the couple reached Nirmal Hriday's office, the accused took the boy away.

Nirmal Hriday in Ranchi works as shelter home for unwed mothers. The mother of the boy, who was sold, had taken shelter at Nirmal Hriday in March. The boy was born in Ranchi's Sadar Hospital on May 1.

It appears that a surprise check by the Child Welfare Committee unnerved the accused who allegedly sold the infant to the UP couple. A few days after the surprise check, she called the UP couple to come back to complete formalities. The Child Welfare Committee officials had seized some documents from Nirmal Hriday during its surprise check.

The boy is currently in the custody of Child Welfare Committee. Rupa Verma, the complainant, claimed that a baby-selling racket has been operating from the shelter home for some time.

Thirteen other pregnant women were staying at the Nirmal Hriday shelter home. The Child Welfare Committee has transferred all of them to from the Missionaries of Charity's Ranchi centre to a different location.