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A key accused in the child adoption racket, Sarita Bandala was on Thursday remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by a metropolitan magistrate in the city. She was sent to the women's prison at Chanchalguda.
Sarita, arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with a child trafficking case, was produced in the court of the ninth metropolitan magistrate in Nampally courts complex in the afternoon.
Neither the investigating officer of the CID nor public prosecutor concerned was present when Sarita was produced in court.
The magistrate expressed dissatisfaction and remanded the accused to judicial custody till May 30.
Later, the CID filed a requisition seeking police custody. After going through the records, the magistrate granted police custody of Sarita till May 25. She will be taken in police custody on Friday.
Sarita and others were charged with kidnapping and procuring infants and children illegally, in the guise of adoptions. It was alleged that Sarita, along with others, procured the infants by exploiting the illiteracy and poverty of the Lambada tribals. The infants were kept in three congested rooms at the Precious Moments adoption home run by Anita Sen, wife of a senior Indian Police Service officer.
After Child Welfare Department officials conducted a raid on Precious Moments and rescued 61 infants and children, a criminal case was registered against Sarita and others by the Kukatpally police. The case was later transferred to the CID.
An ailing Sarita decided to give herself up after she was on the run for almost a fortnight, since the police registered a case against her and Anita Sen on April 27. The CID teams had raided her house on May 4 but she was away in Bombay. A reward of Rs 500,000 was announced for clues on her. After she was admitted to the Yashoda Superspeciality hospital in the city, her husband Ashok Kumar alerted the CID on her whereabouts on Tuesday evening.
EARLIER REPORTAnita Sen's associate taken into custody
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