LUCKNOW, July 16 -- With the arrest of five members, including the alleged mastermind, a General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM)-trained man, police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an alleged child-lifting racket that sold kidnapped children for Rs.2.5 lakh each. The breakthrough came days after an 18-month-old girl was kidnapped from outside a medical facility in the Chowk area and later abandoned when the prospective buyer allegedly refused to accept her. Police said the gang operated as an organised child procurement network, identifying buyers seeking children and arranging kidnappings through a network of associates. The case came to light after the girl's father reported that his 18-month-old daughter had been abducted from the verandah of a medical facility in Chowk at around 2.30 am on July 13. A case was registered and multiple police teams were deployed to trace the child. According to police, the intensive search forced the accused to abandon the girl near Machhli Mandi in Alambagh later the same day. She was safely recovered and reunited with her parents. "Police examined footage from nearly 150 CCTV cameras, analysed surveillance inputs and tracked the movement of the accused before arresting Rishabh Kashyap, 20, Rohit Pasi alias Jadoo, 22, Mohammad Sultan, 27, Mohammad Irshad Shah, 25, and Shyam Ji Yadav, 29, from the Bazaarkhala area on Wednesday morning," DCP (West) Kamlesh Dixit said. "During interrogation, the accused disclosed that the gang charged around Rs.2.5 lakh for each child supplied to buyers. The conspiracy in the present case began after Sher Singh, a resident of Hardoi, told the accused that he wanted a child. Shyam Ji Yadav, who has completed a GNM course and is believed to be the mastermind of the racket, coordinated with Mohammad Sultan to arrange the kidnapping," the DCP added. Police said the gang assigned Rishabh Kashyap, Rohit Pasi, Mahesh and Mohammad Irshad to kidnapped a child. The 18-month-old girl was allegedly lifted from outside the medical facility in the early hours of July 13 and was to be handed over to Sher Singh. However, during questioning, the accused allegedly revealed that Sher Singh refused to accept the child because she was older than the age he wanted. Fearing arrest amid the massive police search, the gang abandoned the girl in Alambagh before fleeing. Investigators suspect Yadav's GNM training may have given the gang knowledge of hospitals and other vulnerable locations where children could be targeted. They are probing whether the accused had earlier supplied children to buyers in Uttar Pradesh or other states. Police are examining the accused's mobile phones, financial transactions and call records to identify previous deals and establish the full extent of the alleged trafficking network. Two alleged conspirators, Sher Singh and Mahesh, remain absconding. Police teams have been formed to arrest them and identify other members, buyers and facilitators linked to the racket. The rescued 18-month-old girl has been safely handed over to her parents. Police also recovered four mobile phones allegedly used by the accused in planning and executing the crime. A case has been registered under sections 137(2), 3(5), 143(4) and 61(2)(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to kidnapping, organised crime and criminal conspiracy at Chowk police station, police said, adding that the probe is now focused on ascertaining whether the gang was part of a larger interstate child trafficking network and identifying other possible victims....