Chennai: In a shocking incident, a couple allegedly sold their four children to a goat herd owner for Rs 62,000.
The incident came to light when four siblings who were in bondage in Ramanathapuram district, lost two years of precious childhood were rescued with the help of an NGO.
The victims have been identified as Vetrivel (9), Velayutham (8), Sundar (6), and Sakthivel (7). According to the report, goat herd owner G Govindarajan paid their parents (Sundaraj and Bapathi) for Rs 62,000 for herding 500 goats and excluded from the outside world.
Sundarrajan and Papathi, who had no source of income due to the pandemic, were approached by Govindarajan who paid Rs 50,000 for their two elder sons, who were nine and eight years old, respectively. He later convinced them by paying Rs 12,000 and took away their two younger sons, seven and six years old.
Authorities caught Govindarajan and all four children were rescued. However, as they havenāt been in contact with other people for nearly two years, all four boys didn’t express normal social skills and have now been placed under the district child welfare committeeās care.