Abducted newborn ‘rescued’ after 9 hours

— A newborn baby, who was allegedly abducted by an unidentified woman from a government hospital on Tuesday, was ‘rescued’ nine hours later, police said.

A baby, said to be the one abducted, was ‘rescued’ nine hours later from the Bagmari area in north Kolkata. However, police said the identity of the baby could be established only after a DNA test as the woman suspected of having abducted it, also claimed that she was the mother of the newborn. .

The incident — which took place at Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, the second oldest medical school to teach European medicine in Asia — triggered protests, including a road blockade in the city’s heart. The baby boy of Saraswati Naskar, who was admitted in the maternity ward on the second floor of the Eden Hospital building, was allegedly taken away by an unidentified woman on the pretext of a check-up around 12.30pm.

An inconsolable Naskar said a woman wearing a green saree approached her and said the doctor wanted to see her baby. “I accompanied her. She carried the baby. When we neared a glass door, she asked me to go inside and check whether the doctor was there. When I came out, I found no trace of the woman and my child.” When the family could not find the baby, they got in touch with the authorities, who said the closed circuit cameras were non-functional.

Within hours, the police released a footage of the woman suspect carrying a baby inside a Metro station. The footage was repeatedly aired on television channels and also shared on the social media.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vishal Garg announced a reward of Rs one lakh for anyone providing information about the woman. All Metro stations and police stations were placed on high alert.

Around 9pm, residents of the Bagmari areas found resemblance of the suspect shown on TV with a woman of the locality. Locals went to the house of the woman and found the baby.