The Hyderabad police arrested a 30-year-old woman on Wednesday for allegedly kidnapping a baby girl from the Government Maternity Hospital in the city’s Koti area.
The accused, identified as Naina Rani was a resident of LB Nagar in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy District and was said to be native of Khashampur in Karnataka’s Bidar District.
The girl’s father, S Nari, had filed a complaint that his baby was kidnapped by a lady on the pretext of administering vaccination from the inpatient ward of the hospital.
“As soon as the case was reported, special teams were formed, which identified through CCTV footage that a lady aged about 30 years, wearing a purple colour saree had carried away the baby from her mother Vijaya. Those teams have further identified the lady boarding a Bidar-bound bus in Central Bus Station, Imilibun. The same was confirmed with the bus conductor, that the lady had de-boarded the bus at Naya kaman in Bidar. This was about 5 pm on July 2 and half an hour after the accused woman boarded the bus. Immediately, the above teams rushed to Bidar on the same day and shared the suspect’s photos with local informants while it simultaneously conducted search operation with the help of local police, throughout the night on Monday through Tuesday,” the police said in a press release.
The police then analysed CCTV footage but the enquiries did not yield any results till about 4 pm in the evening on July 3.
“The movement and activity of Hyderabad Police in the area was reported extensively in social media and in print and electronic media. A friend of the family then identified the image of the suspected accused woman on the TV and called up her brother. The accused and her family members got scared about getting arrested and decided to drop the baby girl at the Emergency ward in Government Hospital, Bidar,” the police said.
“In this process, the brothers of the accused woman sought the help of their friend who in turn got in touch with a local press reporter. Upon handing over the kidnapped baby girl in the hospital, the press reporter called up the local SI as if someone had abandoned her. The baby was then brought to Hyderabad under proper medical care along with her father, Nari, who was taken to Bidar on Tuesday evening,” the police added
The baby was reunited with her mother at 3:30 am on Wednesday.
The police said that the accused woman absconded, following which a manhunt was launched. She was later nabbed.
“The accused along with her brothers and others who assisted her in returning the baby were brought to Hyderabad for further interrogation. The accused woman confessed to have committed the offence since she could not bear children and that she had two episodes of miscarriage earlier. Hence, she intended to steal a new born baby from the hospital and adopt it,” the city police said.
While the accused was presented in front of the media on Thursday, many criticised the police for covering her face with a black plastic cover.
The lady who is accused of stealing the 6 day old baby from Government maternity hospital in #Hyderabad. Was arrested after she abandoned the baby in #Bidar. The police doesn't think much of this crude way of hiding identity, that too using plastic bag. pic.twitter.com/7ixws4BpjK
— T S Sudhir (@Iamtssudhir) July 5, 2018
Appreciate @hydcitypolice
— Nellutla Kavitha (@iamKavithaRao) July 5, 2018
for responding quickly in rescuing 6 days old kid who was kidnapped from Koti maternity hospital #Hyderabad n arresting accused Naina at #Bidar in a short span, but I don't understand why Cops used polythene cover to hide her face instead of a cloth? pic.twitter.com/wECRWmb9Xz
Stating that it was insensitive, many asked why the police could not have used a cloth instead, to hide her identity.
Meanwhile, the police said, “The incident brought to light the importance of the CCTVs in crime prevention. With about 2.3 lakh cctv cameras in Hyderabad city, it has become the most preferred city and a safe city. With the policy of zero tolerance to crimes, the results are a test of professional policing and the criminals are deterred with certainty of getting caught and certainty of getting punished.”