Chennai: Woman held for baby-lifting in hospital

Chennai: A 22-year-old woman was arrested by the police for kidnapping a 6-day-old infant from the Government Raja Sir Ramaswamy Mudaliar (RSRM) hospital in Royapuram on Saturday. The baby boy was rescued from the woman within an hour of receiving the information, Washermanpet Deputy Commissioner Shashank Sai said.

The kidnapped infant was the first child of Madanagopal and Selvi of Ponneri in Tiruvallur district. Madanagopal works as a welder, police said. Selvi was admitted to the hospital and delivered the child on November 12. According to police sources, around 11.45 am, parents of the child noticed the baby missing from ward 9 and informed the hospital authorities. The information was passed onto the cops within a few minutes.

“As soon as we received the message the hospital was placed on a lockdown. A thorough search of the premises was made by the police as well as the hospital authorities,” a police officer said. A team led by Tiruvottiyur Assistant Commissioner and Royapuram Inspector Raja Robert scanned the entire premises. Police personnel detained a lady who was looking out of place with an infant in ward number 7 and during enquiries found that she had kidnapped the child. The woman was identified as R. Ramjan Begum of Puducherry.

“She maintained that this is the first time she took a child. She grew up in an orphanage in Puducherry and used to visit the city once in a while. We are investigating, if she was instigated to kidnap the child or if there is a larger racket behind it,” a senior police officer told DC. The rescued child was handed over to his parents.