Mysuru: A 21-year-old woman, who was abandoned by her husband, tried selling her baby for mere Rs 25,000 to a childless couple in Mysuru.

Seema Banu, a resident of Ghousia Nagar here, was coaxed into selling the three-month-old baby by a child broker named Mumtaz from KN Pura who promised to help her get re-married.

The buyers were Rukhsana and Syed Farooque, a childless couple from KP Mohalla, Chamarajanagar.

It is said that Banu was married to Rizwan, a cabbie, about four years ago. About a month ago Rizwan abandoned her and left her to fend for herself. Since Banu has none to depend on, she started working in an agarbatti factory. But, she was finding it difficult to raise the baby.

Her contact with Mumtaz convinced her to sell the baby away and soon Mumtaz struck the deal of Rs 25,000. Banu was paid an advance of Rs 5,000 and Mumtaz got Rs 1,000 as brokerage.

Just then, the local Udayagiri police got a tip-off. Led by inspector Santosh P P, a police team raided a house near Anwar mosque on Thursday and arrested the four people, besides a man named Shaheebullah who had ferried the couple in his car from Chamarajanagar to Mysuru.

Interestingly, the car which ferried the couple to Mysuru was being used by a candidate for canvassing in the upcoming Legislative Council elections from the Mysore-Chamarajanagar local body constituency. The police suspect the car was used to avoid future complications. The baby has been handed over to the Bapuji Children’s Home at?Gokulam for care and protection.