Newborn kidnappers captured within six hours; boy reunited with parents

HYDERABAD: Nampally police on Saturday rescued a newborn baby and arrested those who kidnapped him from Niloufer Hospital, less than six hours after receiving the complaint.

The child’s parents, Haseen Begum and Ghafoor Basha, residents of Shaikapur in Zaheerabad, had taken the baby to the hospital for treatment of jaundice. On Saturday, around 4.15 pm, when the parents were busy with the discharge process, a burqa-clad woman approached them claiming to know the Aarogyasri division staff and offered to help them. While Haseena was signing the discharge papers, the woman fled with the baby.

The parents lodged a complaint with the Nampally police after searching for the baby around 5.15 pm. Special teams identified and arrested the kidnappers at 10 p.m., rescued the child and handed him over to the parents.

The kidnappers’ gang included main accused Shaheen Begum of Mudigubba (M), Anantapur; Abdulla alias Venkatesh from Indranagar, First Lancer and his wife Reshma alias Renuka. Abdulla told police that he has three daughters and that his wife was eight months pregnant. Thinking they would have another daughter, they wanted to kidnap and adopt a boy, police said.

After the kidnapping, they were on their way to Kurnool when the police, who had formed six teams including an IT unit, identified them through CCTV footage and collected details of the vehicle (TS 13 EQ 9216), central zone DCP Akshansh Yadav said.

“We have informed the Gadwal SP. Kurnool police later intercepted the vehicle at Pullur toll plaza and rescued the child. The suspects were produced before the Nampally court.