Cops rescue baby; arrest woman within six hours

Mysore/Mysuru: A woman, who allegedly kidnapped a baby girl belonging to a Odisha couple from Cheluvamba Hospital, has been arrested by Devaraja Police within six hours and have rescued the baby girl.

Details: A couple from Odisha, identified as Prem and Vasumati, had come to Nanjangud in search of work and Vasumati had delivered a baby girl at Cheluvamba Hospital about 11 days ago.

Meanwhile, a woman, who introduced herself to the Prem and Vasumati couple in the General Ward, told them that her relative’s wife had also delivered a baby and has been admitted in the same hospital.

On Friday at about 11 am, Prem was taking the baby for scanning and the woman told Prem that men were not allowed to the scanning room, took the baby from Prem and asked him to pay the fee at the counter while she holds the baby. Prem then gave the baby to the woman and went to pay the fee at the counter. When he returned, he found the woman missing along with the baby.

As Prem did not know Kannada, he was unable to ask the people about the woman and his baby’s whereabouts and began to cry. Meanwhile, a person told Prem to lodge a complaint and taking his advice, Prem rushed to Devaraja Police Station and lodged a complaint.

Soon, Devaraja Inspector B. Shivakumar, Sub-Inspector M. Jaikeerthi and staff Praveen, Pradeep, Suresh and others, who swung into action immediately, rushed to Cheluvamba Hospital and went through the footages of CCTV cameras installed in the Hospital and confirmed the identification of the woman, who had taken the baby from Prem.

The Police team then went to the auto stand and enquired with auto drivers about the woman and the baby and came to know that a woman and a baby had indeed taken an auto from the Hospital at about 11 am. The Police then showed the CCTV footage to the auto driver, who had taken the woman and the baby and then confirmed that it was the same woman and the baby he had taken in his auto and also told the Police that he had dropped the woman and the baby at Kumbarakoppal.

Without wasting time, the Inspector Shivakumar alerted the informers at Kumbarakoppal and also sent a Police team to Kumbarakoppal. While the Police informers began their enquiry about the woman and the baby, the Police team too began collecting information and launched a search operation to trace the woman and the baby.

Meanwhile, when the Police were conducting a search at Kumbarakoppal, they heard the cries of a baby coming from a house at about 5 pm. Though the neighbours told the Police that there were no babies in the house, the Police, on hearing the cries of a baby coming from that house, barged into the house and found the baby girl. The Cops then rescued the baby and arrested the woman. The woman was produced before a Magistrate, who remanded her to judicial custody. The baby girl was handed over to Prem and Vasumati couple by the Police, who were overjoyed to see their baby again.

Taunting words from her husband’s family members forced her to steal the baby

The woman, who had kidnapped the baby, belongs to a middle class family at Kumbarakoppal. Though she was married for over two years, she was unable to bear a child and hence had decided to commit the crime, the Police came to know during interrogation.

The woman had married a trader from Mandya district over two years ago. Her husband’s family were well off. As she could not bear a child even after two years, her husband’s family members began to taunt her and fearing them, she told them that she was pregnant and had come to her parents’ house at Kumbarakoppal a few months ago.

As days were rolling by, the woman’s mother told her that she (woman) had lied to her in-laws that she was pregnant and as the days were rolling fast, she asked her daughter what she would do now.

The woman, then left the house and came straight to Cheluvamba Hospital, went around the Hospital and stole the baby of Prem and Vasumati. 

Hungry and lack of mother’s milk, the baby began to cry in the house and the Police who were conducting a search on the road where the house was located, heard the cries of the baby and on entering the house, they found the baby and the woman. The Cops then arrested the woman, brought her to the Police Station and questioned her during which the woman told the Police about her problem and not knowing what to do, she had kidnapped the baby.