RAIPUR, June 5: An Indian farmer sold his twins for 100 rupees in impoverished Chhattisgarh state, an official said on Monday, but the family that took them said they merely gave the father his bus fare home.

The mother Mangli Bai died after giving birth to the twins in the central state’s tribal-majority Korba district on Saturday and her husband Samaru Ram sold the boys to a childless couple in the hospital, said an official.

Sapna Singh and A. Shamian, who were visiting the state-run hospital for a medical check-up, accepted the newborns from Ram, Garg said.

“It appears the 24-year-old man sold the twins as he had no money to tend to his family comprising five children,” he said.

—AFP