RAWALPINDI: The police searching for a stolen newborn baby have seen a video footage of the woman who is suspected of stealing him from the Military Hospital (MH) on Friday.

However, a police official said the hospital administration had so far not allowed them to question the staff members who were on duty when the newborn was stolen from the gynecology ward.

The close-circuit television (CCTV) footage preserved by the hospital administration shows the suspected woman wandering in the gynecology ward. The police said the woman remained in the hospital for several hours but none of the security guards or nursing staff asked her about the purpose of her visit to the hospital.

The police said in the CCTV footage the well-built woman, wearing printed shalwar kameez with a black shawl wrapped around her body and holding a file, is shown wandering around the newborn’s mother in the gynecology ward.

However, the hospital security cameras have no footage of the suspected woman taking away the baby.

CCTV footage shows woman wandering in gynecology ward where the baby was stolen

Shahzad Ahmed, a resident of Dhoke Hassu, took his wife to the MH on Thursday night where she delivered a baby boy at 7:30am on Friday.

The newborn was shifted to the nursery and later handed over to his father at 11:30am.

The stranger, who had been in the hospital since Thursday, developed friendship with Shahzad’s wife and his other family members and remained close to them.

Rub Nawaz, a sub-inspector of the R.A. Bazaar police station who is leading the investigation into the case, told Dawn that the woman had been using different tactics to remain in the hospital.

To Shahzad’s family, she identified herself as a close relative of another patient admitted to the same ward. She also used the same tactic while mixing up with other women patients.

In her first attempt, the woman took the newborn from a nurse saying she wanted to see him. But the nurse immediately took the baby back.

The suspect later tried to persuade the duty nurse outside the labour room to hand over the newborn to her claiming she was her aunt. But the nurse refused and told her that she would give the baby only to his parents.

The IO said four female and two male members of Shahzad’s family were in the hospital when the woman took the baby from his mother saying her sister-in-law wanted him outside the ward, and disappeared. The IO said the hospital administration had so far not allowed the police to interrogate the staff members.

The father of the stolen baby told Dawn that the hospital administration had informed him that they were investigating the matter on their own and assured him that the newborn would be recovered.

He said he had also been trying to get the police help to recover his son.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2015

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