In Bangalore, an unidentified woman clad in a burqa stole a 3-day-old baby from the government-run Bowring hospital on Sunday noon. The CCTV footage in the hospital caught the entire act and the police are on the look-out for her.
The abducted baby boy was the son of Syed Habeeb and Farida, residents of Varadachar Road in Kadugodi. Farida gave birth to a boy on October 1 at 4pm on Thursday in the hospital. The infant was kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as it was not breathing well, and was handed over to the mother every two hours for breastfeeding.
On Sunday, Farida was called to feed her son. Farida’s sister, Salma had left to the pharmacy to buy medicines. Meanwhile, a Burkha-clad woman approached Farida and started a conversation with her. The woman claimed that she had admitted her relative for delivery and she was undergoing operation.
“The woman picked the baby and was pampering her. Meanwhile, Farida requested her to take care of the baby and left to rest room. When she returned after a few minutes, she could not find both her baby and the woman. After a frantic search for the baby, she informed the hospital staff and relatives. Later, the police were alerted about the incident,” the police said.
They immediately examined the CCTV camera footage which shows the woman in burqa fleeing the spot with the baby. The police are trying to find out whether she had an accomplice or not.
“We have obtained the footage but the video is not clear. Its quality is being enhanced. There are other clues we are working on, and will nab the woman. She had come prepared to steal a baby by covering herself in a burqa,” said a senior police officer. “The footage shows the woman speaking to a man before she headed to NICU but we are verifying whether he has anything to do with the kidnapping or not,” he added. A case is registered in Commercial Street police station in this connection.