India, Jan. 21 -- Four women and another person were taken into police custody on Monday in connection with the illegal sale of a six-month-old boy for Rs.4 lakh, Belagavi superintendent of police Bhimashankar Guled said, adding that the infant was separated from his mother when he was three-months-old.

In a media briefing on Monday, SP Guled said that a woman, whose identity was not disclosed, had entrusted her three-month-old baby to Lakshmi, a marriage broker who had arranged her second marriage. "Lakshmi, who was involved in the woman's wedding, took the baby by telling her that the newlyweds should have some time alone," he said.

"Lakshmi then handed over the child to Sangeeta, a woman from Kolhapur, who in turn, sold the baby to A...