A woman in Orissa Tuesday confessed to have sold her six-month-old twin sons for Rs.2,500 ($56) because of acute poverty.

Geetanjali Patra, 32, a resident of Sungadia village in tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, told reporters she sold her fourth and fifth children because her husband was threatening to kill them as he could not feed them.

She said she sold the children to Rama Chandra Sethy and Rabindra Sahu at Balasore town.

Geetanjali was married to Padma Lochan Patra for about eight years and they have five children -- one daughter and four sons.

Padma Lochan owned a shop at Balasore town, which was not running well and he was finding it tough feeding the family.

"Since I was facing difficulty in looking after the children, I decided to sell my twin sons," Geetanjali said.

"As my husband was trying to kill the children after failing to feed them, I sold the two sons so that they could be properly looked after."

Sethy and Sahu said she had demanded Rs.2,000 per child. But they bargained to bring down the prices to Rs.1,500 and Rs.1,000.

Meanwhile, district authorities have swung into action and are checking the veracity of the alleged child sale.

"We are investigating the matter," a top official said.

--Indo-Asian News Service