Falak on ventilator again; Main accused, woman arrested

New Delhi :Rajkumar, the man alleged to have handed over two-year-old Falak to his teen-aged girlfriend, and another woman were arrested in the case that has rocked the capital, police said Saturday, even as the battered baby was again put back on ventilator due to breathing problems.

On Saturday, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Trauma centre said that after battling for survival for over three weeks, Falak was put back on ventilator as she started having breathing problems Friday night. They will soon be conducting a surgery on the baby.

“Rajkumar, who is the main suspect in the case, and Pratima were arrested Friday,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma.

“We arrested Rajkumar from an ATM near New Delhi Railway Station on Friday when he had come to withdraw money,” she said, adding that Pratima was arrested in Patna.

“It was with the help of the surveillance on Rajkumar’s bank account that we arrested him. He had withdrawn money from an ATM in Ghaziabad and we became alert,” said the police officer.

Rajkumar was hiding in Mumbai and had come to Delhi as his money got finished. Being afraid of being arrested in train, he took a lift in a truck and reached Hyderabad. From there he went to Udaipur, Kanpur and then reached Delhi.

“Between Oct 10-12, 2011, co-accused Manoj called Rajkumar to bring his taxi and drive him and Falak to an orphanage but Rajkumar asked Manoj to hand over the baby to him as he wanted to keep her with him. Manoj gave Falak to Rajkumar,” said police.

Manoj, who knew Rajkumar, had got Falak from Laxmi who appears to have a central role in the trafficking of woman. Laxmi is under arrest while Manoj is absconding, the police officer recounted.

Rajkumar took Falak to his house in west Delhi’s Dwarka area and handed her over to his wife. After sometime, his wife suspected him of cheating on her and left him. She took their son to her father’s house in Mumbai.

After his wife deserted him, Rajkumar took Falak to his teenaged girlfriend. He lived with her and the two kept Falak with them.

He left for Mumbai after sometime to see his son who had fallen sick. He left Falak with his teenaged lover.

While Rajkumar was away, Falak was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre in a battered condition, police said, adding that they were investigating how the baby was injured.

Falak was admitted to the AIIMS Jan 18 by the 14-year-old girl who claimed to be her mother. The baby was in a critical condition as her head was fractured and she had human bite marks all over her tiny frame.

Police said Pratima was arrested from Patna. She was part of the human trafficking racket that exploited Rajkumar’s 14-year-old girlfriend, Sharma said.

Till now 10 people have been arrested in the case.