Kolkata, Dec 14 (IANS): Kolkata Police on Thursday arrested an elderly couple for attempting to sell their 23-day-old granddaughter to a local agent.

The arrested couple has been identified as Chunni Das and his wife Alka Sardar.

They have been arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the mother of the newborn, Nilam Kumari, who is just 19 year old.

The newborn has been rescued and handed over to her mother.

The police also arranged for the treatment of the rescued newborn.

The woman had informed the cops that although Chunni is her biological father, Alka is her step-mother.

Kumari lodged a complaint at theAnandapur Police station in theoutskirts of Kolkata and in her complaint she also mentioned about her parents being involved in the crime.

The police started an investigation and first detained the elderly couple.

In face of interrogation they finally admitted that they have sold their newborn granddaughter to a child trafficking agent at Rs 30,000.

Cases have been registered against the arrested duo under Section 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

In August this year, the Anandapur police station came in the national headlines for similar reasons, when the cops busted an illegal child selling racket operating in the area involving a network of over 100 agents and sub-agents.

The racket was operated through a popular in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centre.

The main brains of the racket first any woman coming from a financially backward section with a proposal for purchasing their wombs at an amount ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and after the baby was born, the newborn was handed over to the couple at an amount ranging from Rs 4,00,000 to Rs 4,50,000.