A 22-year-old man in Patuakhali has been accused of selling his 18-month-old son for Tk 1 lakh to buy a new iPhone.
Police later rescued the child from Galachipa and detained the father.
The allegation surfaced after the child went missing on Saturday. Police recovered the boy from the Charbishwas area of Galachipa upazila on Sunday night and brought his father, Maruf Munshi, to Dashmina police station from Dhaka.
According to the family, Maruf took his son out for a walk from their home in Baro Gopaldi village on Saturday morning. When he did not return by evening, relatives began searching for the child.
They later learnt that the boy had been taken by Mohibul, the father-in-law of Maruf’s colleague Imran Hossain in Dhaka. The family alleged that Maruf had agreed to hand over the child for Tk 1 lakh, of which Tk 52,000 was paid in advance.
Maruf’s mother, Mahfuza Begum, alleged that he used the money, along with his old iPhone and some additional cash, to purchase a new iPhone.
Maruf, however, denied selling his son. Police said he told them that he was burdened by local debts and had handed the child to his colleague and the colleague’s father-in-law so they could raise him.
He said he had taken Tk 52,000 from them but denied that it was payment for selling the child.
Maruf, a construction worker in Dhaka, had reportedly been living separately from his wife, Brishti Akter, following a family dispute.
Their son had been staying with his paternal grandmother.
Dashmina police station OC Atikul Islam confirmed that the child had been rescued and Maruf detained.
He said police launched an operation after the allegation spread on social media.
However, no written complaint had been filed by the family, creating complications in taking immediate legal action.
The OC said police would discuss the matter with the upazila administration, the Department of Women Affairs and the Department of Social Services before deciding on further action.
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