A six-member gang, who were involved in sale of newborns, in Salem and Erode districts, were nabbed by the Salem City Police on Sunday night.

R. Mohanraj (43), a resident of Karthi Nagar at Narasothipatti in Salem, was working in a finance company. Recently, his company officials lodged a complaint with the Shevapet police against Mohanraj that he misappropriated company money. The police arrested him on Friday and seized his mobile phone. While checking it, they found photos for newborn infants.

On suspicion, the police investigated and found that Mohanraj along with his wife M. Nagasudha (33) and his four accomplices acted as mediator and allegedly bought newborns from poor people and sold them to childless couples in Western Tamil Nadu for the past three years.

The city police laid a trap to nab the gang. Through Moharaj, they called D. Janarthanan (38), a resident of Kakkan Nagar near Krishnapalayam in Erode district, and asked for a newborn for ₹4 lakh. Believing this, Janarthanan along with a woman came to Mettupatti on Sunday. While the police nabbed him, the woman escaped.

The police investigated Janarthanan and Mohanraj and arrested Nagasudha, K. Sridevi (43) of Market Road in Erode, N. Parveen (42) of R.N. Pudur in Erode and M. Padmavathi (46) of Kongupalayam in Erode district on Sunday evening. They were remanded in prison.

Based on the inquiry, the police rescued a child that was sold to couple in Edappadi and are inquiring the couple and the mother of the infant from Erode district. Police sources said the accused persons bought newborns for ₹4 lakh and sold the babies at ₹7 lakh. The police decided to take the accused persons into custody for further investigation to find about the number of babies they had sold in the last three years and the persons involved in the racket, the sources added.