“Kidnapper” Manjula had miscarriages twice in the past two years.
While she had the first miscarriage in the third month of pregnancy last year, the second one happened when she was six-month pregnant in July this year. Worried of in-laws’ reaction, she didn’t disclose about the second miscarriage to her husband Kumar and the in-laws.
“Manjula pretended to be pregnant. Her family members believed her delivery was due this month. She wanted a newborn baby to show them as her baby,” the investigators said. Having decided to kidnap a baby, she came to Petlaburz Government hospital on Saturday morning.
She went around the hospital looking out for babies but could not find an opportunity to abduct anyone. She decided to stay back on the hospital premises that night. On Saturday night, she went to some wards but was unsuccessful.
The next morning, she noticed Kalpana carrying a baby boy in her arms. On learning that she was going to Niloufer hospital, she offered to help her claiming that she was familiar with that hospital.
“Unsuspecting Kalpana trusted the woman and left the baby in her custody while going out for tea at Niloufer hospital only to realise later that she was a kidnapper,” the police said.
Soon after coming on to the main road near the hospital, she requested an auto-rickshaw driver to drop her at a place where she could catch buses to Koti.
The driver dropped her at Sandhya hotel near Lakdikapool. She boarded a bus and went to Petlaburz Government hospital since she had forgotten her bag which she left there the previous night.
Her husband Kumar had come there on his friend’s bike. Police say he believed her story that she had given birth to a baby boy and the abducted newborn was their son.
“For nearly 30 minutes she waited at the hospital for her husband. Actually, the baby’s mother Nirmala was inside the hospital along with her husband Pandu at that time,” the investigators said.