Woman kidnaps four-day-old baby to prove pregnancy before ‘new’ in-laws
PALAKKAD: A four-day-old girl who went missing from the Pollachi General Hospital was finally traced to a house at Korangode in Koduvayur here by the Tamil Nadu police and was delivered back to her parents. Shamna, of Olavakkode, and her husband, Manikandan, of Koduvayur, were arrested in connection with the kidnap.
Shamna told police that she took the baby to convince her in-laws that she had given birth. Shamna, who has two children in her first marriage, later married Manikandan and was staying in a rented house. When Shamna said that she was eight months pregnant, her in-laws had brought her to their house in Koduvayur.
When ward member and Asha worker Sheela Ramakrishnan came to the house to collect details of the pregnant woman, Shamna did not respond initially. Later, when she returned, Shamna gave only the date of her delivery. Sheela then passed the information to the Koduvayur Community Health Centre.
The accused then went back to her house in Olavakkode, and after a month, informed Manikandan and his family that she had given birth to a girl child and the baby has been admitted to the district hospital ICU as it developed health complications. She told her husband that only she was allowed to stay in the hospital and he need not visit.
Speaking to TNIE, Sheela Ramakrishnan said that it was one month ago that Manikandan’s family informed her that Shamna delivered a baby. Moreover, Manikandan’s family conducted a function on the 56th day of the baby’s birth as per the custom. “I went to the house, but the baby was nowhere to be seen. I grew suspicious and informed the hospital in Koduvayur about the issue.
On June 24, I accompanied Shamna and her mother-in-law to the district hospital to see the baby. However, Shamna said that her father was not feeling well and escaped mid-way. I then conducted an enquiry myself and was told that there was no such baby admitted to the ICU. The hospital authorities also said that if a baby is in the ICU, they would never allow the mother to go home,” she said.
Sheela, who grew suspicious, filed a complaint at the Pudunagaram Police Station on June 26. The police then called Shamna over the phone and asked her to come to the police station with the child the next day. Though Manikandan went to the station as requested, Shamna did not.
Finally, at 11am on Sunday, Shamna arrived at her husband’s house with a baby in her hand. Sheela then asked her to go to the police station so that the complaint could be withdrawn. However, at 2am on Monday, Pollachi police with the help of Pudunagaram police, arrived in Koduvayur and took the couple into custody and later recorded their arrest. The police are inquiring whether Manikandan also had something to do with the kidnap.
It was in the wee hours of Sunday that the baby of Younus and Divya Bharathi, both natives of Kumaran Nagar in Pollachi, found their baby missing from the Pollachi GH where she was admitted.