6-day-old baby kidnapped from govt hospital in TN, woman arrested

A woman from Pollachi in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district was arrested on Sunday after she kidnapped a six-day-old infant from the local government hospital. The woman took away the newborn under the guise of taking care of it. Police nabbed the woman with the help of CCTV visuals which showed the woman walking away with the baby.

According to one report in The New Indian Express, Devi and Balan from the Narrikkalpathi tribal hamlet near Anamalai gave birth to a baby at the Pollachi government hospital. While Devi was recuperating at the hospital, 50-year-old Mariammal approached the couple. Mariammal reportedly told the couple that her husband had been admitted to the men's ward where she could not stay and hence sought their permission to stay with them.

The woman who reportedly took care of the baby for the next couple of days told the couple on Sunday that she was taking him to the doctor for his earache. Telling Balan to buy ear drops at the pharmacy, CCTV visuals showed Mariammal in the hospital corridor, walking away with the baby. The couple then approached the police who retrieved the CCTV visuals from the hospital and circulated her photographs. 

According to one report in Puthiya Thalaimurai, the police nabbed the woman and retrieved the baby within 10 hours. They had formed teams to search for the woman in Coimbatore and Tiruppur. They found that the woman was from Udumalai.

The news comes even as the state has been grappling with the shocking discovery of a network of men and women involved in baby trading in Namakkal. An audio of a 10-minute conversation between a nurse and a potential ‘buyer’ from western Tamil Nadu revealed alarming details, with prices being quoted ranging from Rs 2.70 lakh for a dark-complexioned girl to Rs 4.15 lakh for a fair and healthy boy.