Berhampur: A 21-year-old woman was arrested Sunday for allegedly stealing a newborn girl from MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, police said.
The baby, stolen Saturday, was rescued and handed over to her parents, the police said. The accused is a resident of Naryanpur under the jurisdiction of Jarada police station and she was arrested from her relative’s place at Kanishi, about 15 km from here, Additional SP of Berhampur, Shantanu Kumar Das, said.
The accused Kuni Pradhan went to Kanishi after stealing the baby and she was staying there, the police officer said.
“Acting on a tip-off, we raided her relative’s house and found the woman with the baby,” IIC of Baidyanathpur police station, JK Patnaik, said.
The accused has no child though she has been married for three years, the police said. This did not go well with her in-laws who often taunted her for her infertility.
In a bid to show her in-laws that she also has a baby, she left her house four days back in search of a newborn and reached MKCG to lift a baby. She had been hovering around the paediatric ward for the last four days until she chanced upon the victim’s family.
Jyoti Nahak, wife of Bhikari Nahak of Ramsa Narayanpur village in Kabisuryanagar block of the district, was admitted to MKCG after she experienced labour pain Friday.
Jyoti gave birth to a girl in the hospital late Friday night. While Jyoti was asleep after delivery, her mother Gurubari was taking care of the baby.
Meanwhile, Kuni, posing as a volunteer approached Gurubari and called her out on the pretext of immunising the newborn. Unaware of her intention, Gurubari followed the woman with the baby to the hospital door.
Then the woman asked for the baby and sent Gurubari to collect the ticket. When the elderly woman went to collect the coupon, the woman fled with the baby.
When Gurubari returned, she found to her utter shock that the woman was missing along with the baby. She immediately called Bhikari and other relatives and informed them about what had happened. They lodged a police complaint.
PNN