The newborn that was abducted from its mother at Government Maternity Hospital at Sultan Bazar in the city was rescued in Bidar on Tuesday, just a day after it had been stolen.
The city police pressed into service over 200 cops to rescue the baby that had been taken away by a woman clad in a purple saree. The baby’s mother, Sabavat Vijaya, weakened from giving birth six days ago, could not prevent the kidnapper, whom she had mistaken for a hospital staffer, from taking the child away on the pretext of getting it vaccinated.
When it dawned on the family that the newborn had been abducted, the police were intimated.
“CCTV footage in the hospital helped us identify the culprit. We began checking footage from cameras outside the hospital, and also at city’s exit points, including railway and bus stations,” Sultan Bazar Inspector P. Shiva Shankar Rao said.
Footage at the Mahatama Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) showed the woman boarding a bus to Bidar at 11.55 a.m. on Monday. The bus staff informed the police that she alighted at Naya Kaman area of Bidar around 4.45 p.m. the same day. Teams were immediately dispatched and the Bidar police alerted.
The Sultan Bazar police, racing against time to rescue the child, had luck on their side as their assistance to the Bidar police in the past ensured swift reciprocation.
“Last year, we rescued the nephew of a Karnataka minister, who had fled Bidar and come to the Koti area. Now, in our moment of distress, the police there, including the top-brass, helped us,” Mr. Rao added.
Extensive search
The Bidar police, along with cops from Hyderabad, cordoned off suspected areas, searched lodges and visited bus stations, through the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. The media in Bidar ran images of the suspected abductor.
“It appears that the suspected abductor was unnerved on seeing her images on television. She abandoned the child at Bidar Government Hospital and fled,” the police official said.