BALASORE: Town police on Friday arrested a woman from Khusaliganj village in Remuna on charges of stealing an eight-day-old baby boy from the special newborn care unit (SNCU) of Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital (FM MCH).
The arrested woman, 30-year-old Sumati Saw, is a resident of Khusaliganj village. She was arrested on the basis of the complaint filed by the stolen newborn’s parents Susanta Barik and Tikili of Baliapal town. The baby boy had gone missing from the SNCU on Thursday afternoon.
Police said preliminary investigation revealed that Sumati had given birth to a baby girl a few days back. The woman was unhappy as she already had a girl child. The accused devised a plan to swap her newborn girl with a boy. Accordingly, she went to the SNCU of FM MCH and found that neither Tikili nor her husband was with their baby. Finding an opportunity, she fled with Tikili’s newborn leaving her baby girl there.
After coming out of the SNCU, Sumati went to a medicine shop and borrowed the mobile phone of its owner. Using the phone, she called her husband, who was waiting outside the MCH, and asked him to pick her up. Subsequently, Sumati along with the stolen baby went away on her husband’s bike.
As tension flared up on the hospital premises after disappearance of Tikili’s baby, police reached the spot for investigation. The medicine store owner, who had lent his phone to Sumati, informed the cops about the accused’s conversation with her husband.
Balasore City DSP Gayatri Pradhan said a police team went to Khusaliganj village and found Tikili’s baby with the accused woman at her home. Sumati was arrested on kidnapping charges and produced in court. The stolen baby was rescued and handed over to his parents.