New Delhi, February 17 The Delhi Police arrested a woman and her alleged accomplice on Tuesday and rescued a three-day-old boy who had been abducted from a hospital in Rohini earlier in the day, an official said.
The infant was allegedly kidnapped from the neonatal ward of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital early Tuesday, triggering a massive search operation.
A PCR call was received around 9 am at the North Rohini police station regarding the alleged kidnapping of the newborn. The complainant, Sahin (30), a resident of Narela, told police that she was admitted to the hospital on February 12 and gave birth to a male child on February 14.
"During her stay, an unknown woman, around 30 years old, frequently visited her in the ward and gradually gained her trust by engaging in conversations," the officer said.
The officer said that around 5 am on Tuesday, the woman allegedly took the newborn in her arms, asking the mother to rest. The complainant subsequently fell asleep. When she woke up around 8 am, she found that both the woman and her baby were missing from the ward.
Her husband, a labourer, immediately alerted the police through a PCR call.
Based on her statement, an FIR was registered at the North Rohini police station and an investigation was initiated.
"CCTV footage from the hospital showed a woman carrying an infant in her arms while leaving the premises. Multiple teams were formed to trace the accused, and hospital staff, security personnel, and ward attendants were questioned. Alerts were also circulated and surveillance was mounted in and around the city," he added.
During the investigation, based on technical surveillance and human intelligence inputs, the police traced the movement of the suspects towards the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the official said.
Subsequently, the newborn was recovered from the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, and two persons – a woman (40), a resident of Siraspur in Delhi, and a man identified as Ahibaran Saxena (20), a resident of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh – were apprehended. Saxena works in Patthar Market in Noida, police said.
The motive behind the kidnapping is being ascertained, and further investigation is underway to determine whether the duo had planned the crime in advance and if other people were involved, police added.
The child has been medically examined and reunited with the family, police said, adding that sustained questioning of hospital staff and scrutiny of footage from entry and exit points, corridors, and nearby roads helped establish the escape route of the accused.
Efforts are on to reconstruct the sequence of events and examine how the accused woman gained access to the labour ward without raising suspicion.