October 30, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 17, 1428

HYDERABAD, Oct 29: The Hyderabad’s DIG of police Shaukat Shah has expressed fear that the kidnapped baby, Dua, might not be alive because the chief suspect in the case, Safia, was misleading police by retracting her statements.

He was talking to journalists at the Hyderabad Civil Hospital after recovery of a two-day-old girl several hours after she had been kidnapped from the same hospital on Sunday.

“Safia has been misleading us. First, she said she had thrown Dua into bushes because the baby was ill, then she retracted on this statement saying that she had sold her to Amna for Rs15,000,” said the DIG.

“The 70 per cent of (evidence) the police have gathered thus far during investigations proves that her second statement, that she had sold the baby to Amna, is wrong and I have to give weight to her first statement because I have personally been involved in the investigation,” he said.

Dua was born to Nadeem and Feroza in Shah Bhittai Hospital Latifabad on Aug 16 and was kidnapped by a woman, who was later identified as Safia, on Aug 19.

Saifa’s arrest led to several other persons involved in the gang who were also nabbed by the police, including her sister and brother-in-law after the Chief Justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the case.

Safia along with other accused has been remanded in judicial custody. She was identified by five people including the couple during identification parade in the court.

Police have interrogated several people and had four remanded in judicial and one in police custody. Maria alias Amna had also been arrested after Safia’s claim that she had sold the baby to her.

The DIG believed that the chances of baby’s recovery were diminishing by each day as the chief suspect Safia was regularly changing her statements.

He claimed that Amna was a criminal minded woman but the investigation had proved that she was not involved in the crime. He had replaced two DSPs after the case attained high-profile status following apex court’s notice.