AGARTALA, Feb 3 : A two-month old baby boy who was allegedly sold by his destitute father, was rescued from Bhagaban Nagar in Tripura''s Unakoti district, about 185 km from here, by a joint team of the police, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Childline and returned to his family, sources said on Tuesday.

The incident led to the opposition CPI-M blaming the ruling BJP for abject poverty in rural Tripura and the saffron party claiming that there was no dearth of jobs in the state under MGNREGA.

The boy''s father, a 33-year-old daily wage labourer had allegedly sold him to a childless couple a month ago for Rs 5000, Unakoti district coordinator of Childline, Kuntala Sinha said on Tuesday.

He was rescued on Monday after Childline, a service of ministry of women and child development, received an anonymous call on its toll free helpline about it, she said.

"Our team members after preliminary investigations took up the matter with the district child welfare committee and then formed a joint team of police, Childline and members of the committee and spoke to the child''s family members. On the basis of their statement the team visited the house of the couple who had bought the baby boy and rescued him, Sinha told reporters.

"Since the child has parents, we handed over him to them. Childline will monitor the situation for three months so that such incidents are not repeated," Sinha said.

Officer in-charge of Kailashahar police station, Partha Munda, however, said that the baby was given away and was not sold.

The boy''s father and the man to whom the child was allegedly sold are close friends. As the child''s father was in financial crisis, he gave away the baby to the childless couple, who then gave some money and a few sarees to the child''s mother as courtesy, Munda told reporters.

Condemning the incident, Opposition CPI(M) state secretary Goutam Das said it proved the abject poverty prevalent in the rural areas of the state under the BJP regime.

He claimed that another newborn was sold at Bishalgarh earlier this year. "Such cases were never heard of under the Left regime. Selling of babies only proof that abject poverty is prevalent in Tripuras rural areas, he told reporters.

BJP spokesperson, Nabendu Bhattacharya said the party''s workers are collecting details of the case from the villagers.

"There is no dearth of jobs under MGNREGA in rural areas, he added.

(PTI)