Woman arrested for child lifting from hospital

KOLAR: The Kolar police cracked the kidnap case of a four-day-old newborn from the district hospital with the arrest of one woman. The police are now on the lookout for other women involved in the case. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has expressed his appreciation for solving the case in just five hours.

The parents of the baby are Puvar Sun and Nandini of Patel Nagar in Malur town of Kolar district. Three unidentified women stole the newborn from the NICU in a handbag around 4 pm on Thursday. After going through CCTV footage, the police rescued the child near Berike in Tamil Nadu on the Kolar border and reunited it with mother.

The woman’s relative Karthik, who was in the corridor, alerted his grandmother that three women had taken away the child.

Police Superintendent M Narayan said the mother was asleep when the child was snatched from the NICU. “Three women took away the child in a handbag. The woman’s relative Karthik woke up his grandmother and informed her of the child lifting. The boy’s grandmother followed the women did not notice the vanity bag or that the child was inside it. Only when she came back to the ward did she realise the child was missing. There were no security guards at the hospital. Based on the information provided by Karthik, we checked the CCTV footage and the police launched a search”.

The SP said they will recommend the boy for Bal Shaurya Puraskar for showing presence of mind.

“We came to know that the child lifters had left Kolar and reached Malur town around 6 pm. The three women then hired an autorickshaw of Naveen Kumar, son of a retired police constable and agreed to pay Rs 450 to be dropped off at Alambadi Gate. After watching the CCTV footage that had been shared, Naveen Kumar himself informed the police that he had dropped the women. The Tamil Nadu police were also alerted.

Shilpa alias Swathi was heading back to Kolar to return the baby when they were intercepted at a checkpoint.

“The arrested Shilpa alias Swathi, who was carrying the child on a two-wheeler, was bringing it back to Kolar from Tamil Nadu as they developed cold feet and were stopped at a checkpoint and apprehended. We are also investigating if there is a network behind the child lifting. We are also recommending Karthik for the Bal Shaurya award”, the SP added.