Delhi: 2 women kidnap infant from hospital to settle grudge; arrested, baby rescued

NEW DELHI: Two women have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a four-day-old baby boy from a hospital in Rohini’s Sector 6. The kidnapping was planned by the infant’s aunt over an old grudge.Police had received a complaint from the infant’s mother on Wednesday claiming that her son had been kidnapped from the hospital. A case was registered under sections 137 (kidnapping) and 140 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom etc) under the BNS at North Rohini police station.“CCTV footage revealed that the child’s aunt (maternal uncle’s wife) Suman Devi had asked the mother to hand him over to one Pooja Soni, also known as Radha, who claimed to be working at the hospital,” said DCP (Rohini) Rajeev Ranjan.The senior cop added that Soni had told the family that she would help the mother with the vaccination of the child. But the vaccination centre was reportedly shut by the time. She then took him from them on the pretext of weighing him and fled, police added.When Suman Devi, a 45-year-old homemaker from Sagar Pur, was apprehended from the spot, she confessed to planning the kidnapping of the child with assistance from Soni.

Co-accused Soni had pretended to be an employee of the hospital and had handed over the baby to Suman’s 14-year-old daughter at her home. The baby was found after a raid at Suman’s house and was returned to his mother.Soni, a 43-year-old cook and domestic helper from Uttam Nagar, was also nabbed. Police said Suman had planned the kidnapping to take revenge for an old grudge with her inlaws i.e. the child’s mother and maternal grandmother.

A senior police officer said that Suman believed that the child’s mother was involved in black magic which had caused her to lose her babies in the past.In Nov, a four-month-old boy was rescued from a female kidnapper, who worked at an IVF centre in Ghaziabad. She had allegedly taken him from a footpath near the Old Delhi Railway Station in north Delhi in her desire for a male child. In April, a 27-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly abducting a newborn from a hospital suspectedly after failing to conceive during her seven years of marriage.