A 30-year-old woman was arrested for kidnapping a newborn male baby from the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore on August 20. Police rescued the baby within eight hours.
Police said that K. Sundar (40), a labourer from Kannamangalam town near Arani, admitted his wife S. Suriyakala (37) at the government hospital a few days ago. Suriyakala gave birth to a boy on August 17 at the hospital and was taking treatment there. She also decided to go for a family planning procedure and stayed for it in the hospital.
Around 6.45 p.m. on August 19 (Saturday) when she got up from her bed, she found her baby boy was missing. Immediately, she informed her husband Sundar, who in turn lodged a complaint at Vellore Taluk Police station immediately.
The Superintendent of Police (SP), Vellore, N. Manivannan formed four teams including one team led by Assistant SP, Mr. Prasanna Kumar, and analysed the CCTV footage in the hospital and on the Chittoor - Cuddalore High Road where the government hospital is also located.
Police found a woman kidnapper abducting the baby boy from his mother, who was sleeping in the bed in the ward, and walking hastily to the bus stop outside the hospital. The bus was heading towards Kancheepuram. After specific inputs from Ranipet and Kancheepuram district police, the special police teams were able to nab the kidnapper S. Padma (30), a native of Ranipet, at the government bus terminus in Kancheepuram around 1.30 a.m on Sunday.
Police arrested Padma and rescued the baby. Later, the police took the rescued baby boy to the District Government Headquarters Hospital in Kancheepuram for medical checkup before reuniting the newborn with his family.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Vellore range, M.S. Muthusamy, appreciated the police personnel, who worked in the case, for swift action.