Woman arrested for stealing baby boy from hospital

Varanasi: In joint action by Robertsganj and Rampur Barkonia police, a seven-day-old baby boy was recovered from a woman identified as Mamata, 32, and her relative Shrinath, on Tuesday. The baby was returned to his mother, Poonam, resident of Naugarh area in Chandauli district.Sonbhadra ASP (headquarters) Anil Kumar said teams from Robertsganj and Rampur Barkonia police stations made continuous efforts using CCTV footage, local clues and intelligence. They raided a house in Rampur area under Rampur Barkonia police station on Tuesday and arrested Mamata and Shrinath with the baby.During interrogation, Mamata said she has three children from her first husband who died of snakebite. She started living with a relative, Shrinath, who put a condition before her that he would marry her only if she gave birth to his child. Since Mamata had undergone tubectomy, she devised a plan.She stopped living at Shrinath's place, claiming she was pregnant and started frequenting the medical college hospital. On May 27, Poonam from Naugarh in Chandauli district gave birth to a son at the medical college hospital. Claiming she was attending to a relative in the same hospital, Mamata started spending most of her time near Poonam and became familiar with her and her attendants.On Monday morning, while Poonam was changing bedsheets, Mamata took the child and fled. When Poonam did not find her baby, she raised an alarm, after which her family alerted Robertsganj police. CCTV footage from the hospital confirmed Mamata had stolen the baby. SP Sonbhadra formed four teams for rescue of the infant and arrest of the accused woman.