By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand police on Monday arrested a woman who had allegedly sold her 15-year-old daughter for Rs 1.5 lakh after faking her kidnapping to cover up the crime, a top police official said.
SSP Dehradun Pramendra Dobal said three more persons including those who bought the girl have also been arrested.
The case came to light after Neelam Devi, a resident of Nangal Hatanala on Sahastradhara Road, lodged a complaint at Rajpur police station on July 5, alleging that her minor daughter had been abducted. Considering the sensitivity of the case, the SSP constituted a special investigation team to trace the girl.
The team analysed CCTV footage, examined mobile phone records and carried out extensive field investigations. During the probe, police received information that the girl was in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. A police team immediately rushed there and rescued the minor while arresting two accused, Manish and Lavi Kumar.
During interrogation, Lavi Kumar disclosed that the girl had been purchased from her mother through a woman identified as Pinky Malik for Rs 1.5 lakh. He further told investigators that he later sold the minor to Manish for Rs 2 lakh for the purpose of marriage.
Acting on the disclosures, police arrested Pinky Malik from Muzaffarnagar and Neelam Devi from Dehradun.
According to the police, Neelam Devi admitted during questioning that she had agreed to sell her daughter due to financial distress after Pinky Malik approached her with an offer of money in exchange of the girl. Neelam Devi allegedly received only Rs 80,000 as advance payment, while the remaining amount was to be paid later.
When the balance payment did not materialise and fearing that the illegal transaction might be exposed, she allegedly concocted a false story of her daughter’s abduction and lodged a fake complaint with the police in an attempt to divert suspicion.
Police said the minor has been safely recovered and further investigation is underway to ascertain whether the accused are linked to any larger child trafficking or forced marriage racket. Based on the findings, additional charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act have been invoked.
The four arrested accused have been identified as Manish (37) of Muzaffarnagar, Lavi Kumar (24) of Meerut, Pinky Malik (37) of Muzaffarnagar and Neelam Devi (35) of Dehradun.