The Pathanamthitta police have rescued a newborn boy who was abducted from the Kozhencherry district hospital on Thursday. The abductor, a woman, was traced to Vechoochira, near Ranni, on Friday.
Superintendent of Police B. Ashokan said the police arrested Leena of Puthenpurackal, wife of Aneesh, in connection with the case. The baby was handed over to his mother, Anitha, in the presence of local MLA Veena George and hospital authorities on Friday evening. However, the police refused to divulge details saying that the investigation was yet to be completed.
The four-day-old baby of Saji Chacko and Anitha, a couple from Madathumpady in Ranni was abducted from the district hospital around 11.10 a.m. on Thursday.
The woman, camping at the hospital as a caregiver of another patient, had reportedly taken the baby from his father saying that the nurse had asked her to bring him to the mother for breast feeding. The father realised that his baby was abducted only when the nurse approached him later to take the baby.
The relatives of the couple had announced a blockade of the hospital, alleging delay in tracing the baby. Local MLA Raju Abraham had arrived at the hospital to ease the situation there.
Earlier, Mr. Ashokan has deployed a 10-member team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police K.A. Vidyadharan to look into the case. The police had released the images of the woman which were captured by the CCTV camera installed at the hospital. Around eight lakh calls received at the base transmission station near the hospital were checked to trace the woman’s cell phone.
