Police have arrested a doctor, a couple and two others for selling a baby girl for Rs 35,000.

Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) Nerealla Shankar who is Managing Director of a private hospital and N. Srinivas, Administrator of the hospital, are among a total of seven persons taken into custody.

The incident occurred at Ibrahimpatnam under Rachakonda Police Commissionerate on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

According to police, the couple sold the baby for Rs 10,000 and the others shared the remaining amount equally.

Police said 26-year-old K. Vanitha had given birth to a baby girl at Telangana Multi Specialty Hospital on February 28. Shankar and Srinivas offered Vanitha and her husband K. Jawaharlal Rs 10,000 for the baby.  

The doctor and administrator then with the help of a mediator Shantha, sold the baby to a couple for Rs 35,000 and shared the amount equally.

Police raided the hospital and arrested the accused. The baby was handed over to Sishu Vihar, a childcare centre run by the state women development and child welfare department.