Newborn baby
Representational Imagematsuyuki/Flickr

A hospital in Telangana's Suryapet town sold a newborn to a childless couple in Chhattisgarh after the baby's parents failed to pay the bill.

The mother had delivered the baby 16 days ago and when she couldn't pay the hospital bill, the staff asked her to hand over her newborn in exchange for the outstanding amount. She gave her baby to the staff and went to arrange the money.

On the night of 16 June, she returned with ₹ 25,000 to pay the bill and take her child back. When she approached the hospital management, she was informed that a couple from Chhattisgarh had adopted her daughter, The Hindu reports.

The woman and her husband insisted the hospital management to return their child and said that they would not leave the hospital premises without her.

Meanwhile, some locals informed the police and Women Development and Child Welfare Department about the incident.

When the police and officials from the child welfare department arrived at the hospital, they discovered that the hospital employees had sold the baby three days ago.

Now, both the police and child welfare department are trying to get the baby back from Chhattisgarh.

The woman and her husband work as labourers in Imampet area, which lies on the outskirts of Suryapet. The couple have two other daughters and when the woman gave birth to another girl child, her husband refused to take any responsibility. However , he seems to have changed his mind later.