Newborn kidnapped from Kerala hospital, police traces baby within 2 hours
The woman who kidnapped the infant told the police that she kidnapped the child to blackmail the man she was in a relationship with, into marrying her.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala police on Thursday rescued a newborn within two hours after the baby was kidnapped from the medical college hospital in Kottayam, said district police chief D Shilpa on Friday.
The crime took place in the gynecology ward of the medical college hospital around 3pm on Thursday, said hospital authorities. When a woman, dressed in a nurse’s uniform, asked for the newborn to check the baby’s “jaundice level”, mother P Aswathi readily handed over the baby to her. When the baby was not returned to her after 30 minutes, she went to the nursing station and realised that her baby had been kidnapped. Soon, the police were alerted and they started the search.
“We immediately sealed the district border and scanned railway stations, bus terminals and private vehicles. Soon an autorickshaw driver gave a statement that he saw a woman moving out of the hospital in hurry. By 5pm, the kidnapper Neethu Raj and the child were taken into custody from a hotel in the city,” said the superintendent of police (SP) D Shipla. She said the police officers who busted the kidnapping incident in record time will be rewarded. When Sub Inspector T S Reneesh came to the medical college hospital with the baby at 5.30 pm, there was a standing ovation to the police team.
“The accused told us she kidnapped the child to blackmail her lover Ibrahim Badusha. Soon after the baby was kidnapped, she Whatsapp-ed photos of the child to him and his relatives saying she gave birth to the baby and Badusha fathered the child,” said the SP, adding that both came in contact last year through Tik Tok and stayed together for some time. The woman, who has a four-year-old son from an earlier marriage, said they fell out when Badusha started preparing to marry someone else.
“She told us Badusha took money from her and failed to return it. The whole drama was enacted to foil his marriage plan and live with him,” said the SP, adding that Raj earlier had an abortion. She was planning to give an impression that she gave birth to the child in a private hospital in Ernakulam and selected an easy target in Kottayam medical college hospital.
The SP said the accused was camping in a hotel near the hospital from January 4 and made many trips to the hospital. Police said she purchased the uniform from a medical equipment shop. The SP said her lover has no role but a separate case will be registered against him for not returning the money he took from Raj.
“I almost fainted at the hospital after I came to know about the kidnapping. She was quite familiar in the gynaecology ward and we all thought she was a nurse. I never thought police will save my baby so soon. It was a real nightmare,” said Aswathi. Her relatives said this exposed the administration and upkeep of the hospital. State health minister Veena George has sought a report from the medical college authorities.
