SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Oct 21: Police have recovered the infant that was stolen from Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (SNMMCH), Dhanbad from a village under Rajganj police station, around 21.9 km away from the district headquarters, in a 31 hours operation last night.
Two women and a minor girl involved in the stealing were arrested.
The Officer in-charge of Saraidhela police station, Kishore Tirkey, said that after getting a tip-off, the raid was conducted at around 9.30 p.m. in the house of Mukteshwar Mahto in Barbadih Tola under Rajganj police station and recovered the infant from second floor of the two-storey building.
Kajal Devi, her mother Tejia Devi and a minor girl who were captured in CCTV footage while escaping with the infant from hospital, were arrested. The police also recovered the Sari that the daughter and mother were wearing at the time of stealing.
The infant belonging to Gudia Devi, a resident of Bhuli Township was stolen outside the labour room in SNMMCH just after her delivery at around 2 pm on Tuesday. One of the accused, Kajal Devi, who was sitting outside the labour room took the infant from her grandmother and escaped.
Mother of the infant, Gudia Devi, had refused to leave the hospital without taking her child. She returned to Bhuli after the police handed over the infant to her late at night.
“Both the arrested women were brought to Saraidhela police station at night. In the preliminary interrogation, the accused Kajal Devi revealed that even after five years of marriage she couldn’t have a baby. So she planned along with her mother to steal an infant from the medical college hospital. As per their plan, she sat on the chair outside the labour room in the morning while her mother was waiting outside the hospital. Then she got an opportunity at 2 pm and escaped with Gudia Devi’s infant.
The district police took the case seriously. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manoj Swargyari held a meeting at Saraidhela police station and reviewed the CCTV camera footage captured by CISF Koylanagar headquarter.
