A woman, clad in a burqa, is seen walking out of a hospital carrying a baby in her hands, per the CCTV footage accessed by the Prakasam police in Andhra Pradesh. The baby, however, is not hers. The baby girl was just five days old when she was kidnapped by the woman from Markapur Government Hospital on Saturday, August 28.
According to police, there are three female accused in the case, including the woman, identified as Dudekula Rehana, who kidnapped the child from the hospital. The baby girl was undergoing treatment at the government hospital for jaundice. She was in the phototherapy room of the hospital and was left unattended when the woman kidnapped her.
The baby was born on August 23 in the same hospital, to Eruva Sriramulu and Komali. The parents lodged a complaint with the Markapur rural police as soon as their realised their daughter was missing. The police immediately registered a case and nabbed the accused in the early hours of Sunday, August 29.
.@prakasam_police cracked a case of 5 days old baby kidnap in the span of hours. A baby girl was lifted from Govt Hospital Markapuram, the accused woman allegedly sold the baby to others. pic.twitter.com/DaqBU0HKiJ
— CharanTeja (@CharanT16) August 29, 2021
District Superintendent of Police (SP) Mallika Garg directed all police stations to keep a vigil at junctions, bus stations and railway stations, besides carrying out vehicle checks. The police from the neighbouring districts were also alerted about the incident. After hours of examining the CCTV footage from the hospital and other places in the locality, the police received a tip-off that a newborn baby was brought to a private hospital.
Around 2 am on Sunday, the Markapuram rural police found the baby at a private hospital in the twon, in the possession of three women, including Dudekula Rehana. An investigation revealed that the main accused, Rehana, was selling the baby for Rs 50,000 to a distant relative.
The police seized the amount of Rs 50,000, along with a bond paper that revealed an alleged agreement to sell the baby.
Speaking to the media, SP Mallika Garg appreciated the police for cracking the case and uniting the baby with her parents within hours of the incident.
“The baby was kidnapped by the main accused, Rehana, from a room in the hospital, as nobody was around. Soon, we took up the investigation, forming special teams. We started vehicle checks and screenings at bus stations and railway stations as well as the main roads, entry and exit points of Markapur subdivision,” she said. “We collected the CCTV footage from all places and were searching for the baby. Around 2 am, we were able to find the baby from the women."
The SP handed over the five-day-old baby to her mother and father in the presence of the media on Sunday.