Kottayam: After a series of incidents that earned a bad name for the police force in Kerala, the state police won many hearts this week when a newborn child kidnapped from hospital was restored to its parents, S. Sreejith and Aswathi from Idukki district, within just three hours.
The swift action to locate and restore the baby to its parents was conducted by the Gandhinagar police station on the outskirts of Kottayam on Thursday, after being alerted of the incident by authorities of the Medical College Hospital here, where the baby was born.
It later turned out that the baby was stolen by 33-year-old Neethu Raj from Kochi, who is married and has an 8-year-old son. Her husband is based abroad. After the preliminary round of investigation, police believe that Neethu had a relationship going with one Ibrahim Badusha, 28, and had committed the crime to make Badusha believe that she had conceived the newborn child from him.
CCTV footage and police investigation revealed that Neethu had stayed at a hotel nearby, plotting the kidnap of the baby from the hospital. She had purchased a nurse’s coat and walked around the gynecology ward before duping the child’s mother.
Neethu told the child’s mother, Aswathi that the baby needed some treatment and took the child away. When Aswathi did not get the baby back after an hour, she raised an alarm, and hospital authorities quickly informed the police. The kidnap had occurred around 3 pm.
Police spread word among drivers at taxi and autorickshaw stands near the hospital, as well as to bus drivers and hotels and lodgings nearby. As it turned out, it was Kollamparambil Elizabeth, the receptionist at the hotel where Neethu stayed, who grew suspicious when Neethu came back to the hotel with her son, as well as a newborn.
Neethu soon summoned a taxi but the taxi driver Alex Sebastian, too, had known about the kidnap and he alerted the hotel manager, who then informed the police. In a few minutes, a team led by sub-inspector T.S. Renish recovered the child and rushed to the hospital.
There were tears of joy for the child’s parents, and bystanders in the ward and visitors to the hospital outside clapped hands and saluted the police as they rushed back with the child, within three hours of the abduction.
Aptly, the child was named Ajayya (unbeatable). “The baby’s father said his daughter had fought and won. That’s why the name was suggested,” said Renish, who was credited for naming the baby.
Neethu and Badusha are in police custody. Neethu has alleged that Badusha had blackmailed her and taken Rs3 million from her. Police said Badusha was not involved in the abduction, but was taken into custody for allegedly physically abusing Neethu and her son.
The accolades for saving the baby gave significant satisfaction for the state police force which had been under a cloud for a series of slip-ups in recent weeks.
A police team in Thiruvananthapuram had stopped Swedish tourist Stefan Asberg on New Year’s eve and made him pour out the alcohol he had purchased, because he was not carrying the bill with him. A few days later, a railway police assistant sub-inspector was seen kicking a passenger. Both incidents had brought embarrassment for the police.
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