Posing as nurse, woman abducts infant; arrested hours later

Belagavi: A woman, posing as a nurse, who abducted a new-born infant, barely hours after he was delivered, was arrested by Belagavi police on Wednesday. The infant, a boy, was born around midnight on Tuesday after she was admitted complaining of labour pain to a hospital in Athani taluk in the border district. Around 11am on Wednesday, when a nurse was examining the baby, and instructing the mother on the steps to be taken to ensure the infant’s health, the woman, Mala Kamble, posing as a nurse herself, entered the ward.

Mala waited while the nurse finished her examination, and the mother fell asleep. Mala the sent one of the mother’s relatives away from the neo-natal ward on some flimsy pretext, and took the infant, which she said, needed to be weighed. However, when this ‘nurse’ did not return, the mother panicked, and sought help. The staff at the hospital searched for the infant, but to no avail. The Athani taluk police station was alerted, and cops pressed into finding the abducted infant.

Examining footage from the close circuit television (CCTV) camera, police were able to identify her. However, on reaching her house, they found it locked. Belagavi district superintendent of police Sanjeev Patil was intimated about the incident, at the behest of whom, deputy SP Shripad Jalde constituted two teams to find the infant, and nab Mala. Cops traced Mala, and the infant to Mhaisal village in Sangli district of Maharashtra. SP Patil told TOI that Mala reportedly claimed to have stolen the infant since she was childless. “But we are investigating the case to see if she is part of a bigger racket,” he said.