A 25-year-old woman, who introduced herself as an NGO worker, kidnapped a two-month-old baby to sacrifice for the revival of her dead father in southeast Delhi, police said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Shweta, who is a resident of Kotla Mubarakpur, has been arrested, police said, adding that she lives with her mother, and has previous involvements in cases of robbery and burglary.
The police received information at Amar Colony police station on Thursday around 4 p.m. that a two-month baby boy has been kidnapped by an unknown lady from Garhi area. An FIR was registered and investigation was taken up.
The child’s mother informed the police that the kidnapper met them at Safdarjung Hospital and had introduced herself as an NGO member working for Jachcha-Bachcha care. “The woman promised to provide us with free medicines and consultation to both my child and myself,” the mother told the police.
Later, the woman followed them on the pretext of examining the child’s development. On Wednesday, the woman came to their house at Mamraj Mohalla in Garhi for a checkup. On Thursday too, she came to their place and convinced the mother to hand over the child for an outing, a senior police officer said.
“The mother asked her 21-year-old niece to accompany the lady while she took the child out, the lady came to Neem Chowk in Garhi, she took the infant in her car with the victim’s niece, Ritu,” police said, adding that she then offered Ritu a cold drink, while they were on their way, and Ritu fell unconscious.
An officer said that the kidnapper dumped Ritu in Ghaziabad. “When she gained consciousness, she informed her family that the child has been kidnapped.”
After CCTV footage analysis, the kidnapper’s vehicle registration number was traced and her address details were revealed, police said.
Following a tip-off that Shweta, the kidnapper would visit Arya Samaj Mandir in Kotla Mubarakpur, she was arrested.
During interrogation, Shweta disclosed that her father died in October, and during the last funeral rites, she was informed that human sacrifice of an infant of the same gender could revive her father and bring him back to life, an officer said. “To execute this superstition, she searched for infant boys in the area, she went to the hospital and introduced herself as an NGO worker,” the officer added.
