The newborn baby, who was kidnapped from a hospital in Hyderabad was rescued in Karnataka's Bidar
Highlights
- Search ops in two states helped police find missing baby in Karnataka
- The baby's parents had brought her to Hyderabad hospital for vaccination
- She was taken from her mother by a woman who posed as medical staff
After nearly 24 hours of search by multiple police teams in two states, a 6-day-old kidnapped baby was reunited with her parents on Tuesday. The baby, taken right out of her mother's arms at the Hyderabad government hospital, was found 150 km away in Bidar in neighbouring Karnataka.
Police teams in both states managed to track down the kidnapper and recover the baby girl with help from CCTV footage at the hospital and a bus terminal in Hyderabad.
The baby went missing on Sunday when she was taken by her parents for a round of vaccinations to the Government Maternity Hospital in Hyderabad's Koti.
The kidnapper seen carrying the newborn girl out of the hospital. She also stole her medical records
There have been similar incidents of babies being stolen from the same government hospital in the past, and the pattern suggests a kidnapping gang.
The baby was born in the same hospital four days earlier. Waiting for hours for their turn, the newborn's father stepped out to get copies of their Aadhaar cards for paperwork. The mother, Vijaya, was approached by a woman who pretended to be a hospital employee. She offered to take the baby and her medical records, saying she would get her vaccinated and bring her back.
The kidnapper seen with the baby girl at the bus stand in Hyderabad. She was seen boarding a bus to Bidar.
The mother handed the baby over to her. When she didn't return for hours, the parents went to the police.
Shiv Shankar Rao, the police officer investigating the case, said the woman had slipped out with the baby because she had taken all the documents from her mother. "The security staff check the papers when a baby is taken out of the hospital, but in this case the woman had all relevant papers, so there was no reason for them to suspect or stop her," he said.
The police, after rescuing the newborn from the kidnapper, took her to the hospital for a check-up before reuniting her with her parents.
The woman was caught on CCTV footage from the hospital. Footage from a bus stand showed the kidnapper taking a bus to Karnataka's Bidar.
Police teams finally caught the Kidnapper with the baby in Bidar. The baby was taken to a hospital before being handed back to her parents.
The police in Karnataka are investigating whether the kidnapping is connected to any child trafficking gang in Bidar, a backward tribal belt.