HYDERABAD, 23 April — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has ordered a high-level probe into irregularities committed by various adoption centers, including child sale rackets, following the discovery of skeletons of 18 orphans buried within the grounds of an adoption home.
The decision to order a probe by the state Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) came after Naidu met with his Cabinet colleagues. He also announced that all adoption centers breaking the law should be de-licensed.
The inquiry order comes after police Saturday searched the John Abraham Memorial Bethany Home at Tandur in Ranga Reddy district, about 60 km from Hyderabad, and retrieved the bodies. Police said they had acted after receiving complaints that the adoption home was ill-treating its children. Fifty children, the majority of whom were said to be below the age of one year, were rescued from the home.
The head of the home, a woman called Savitri, is absconding. The adoption center allegedly buried the children after their death around two months ago without informing the authorities.
Police said the children were badly kept and they were not given medical attention during illness, adding the home also gave children up for adoption to foreigners.
State Home Minister T. D. Goud said police were hunting for the authorities of the Bethany home.
