RAWALPINDI: Police arrested a couple for kidnapping a three-day-old baby from outside a government hospital in the RA Bazaar area over a week ago and recovered the infant on Friday.

Shortly after the newborn was taken away from his mother by a woman who claimed to be a doctor on February 6, City Police Officer (CPO) Mohammad Ahsan Younas constituted a team headed by SP Potohar Syed Ali and ASP Cantonment Kamran Hameed to trace the culprits and recover the baby.

After the investigation was launched, the police team obtained CCTV footage of the area and traced the couple by using latest technology.

Syed Alwara, a resident of Dhoke Alam in Rawat, complained to the RA Bazaar police that she lived with her husband and children in a rented house.

She said three months ago an unidentified woman made a phone call to her elder son and became friends with him.

Police arrest woman and her husband for taking away the three-day-old from outside a hospital in RA Bazaar

She said the woman introduced herself as a doctor and expressed her desire to marry her son.

She said her son introduced the woman to her and they started conversation on phone.

Ms Alwara said while talking to the woman she informed her that she was pregnant. Later, she told her that she had been blessed with a son.

The unidentified woman then asked Ms Alwara to bring the newborn to the hospital for a checkup as she would assist her there.

She said following the telephonic conversation, she and her son reached the parking area of the hospital along with the baby.

When they arrived there at about 3pm, the woman met them and asked her for her national identity card which she was not having at the time.

The young woman then asked Mr Alwara to hand over the newborn to her as she would take him inside the hospital and get him examined.

The complainant said after handing over the baby to her, she and her son waited outside till sunset but she did not return. She and her son then went inside the hospital and started searching for the woman and the newborn but they could not be traced.

When the mother approached the police, an investigation was launched and with the help of intelligence and technology the police got some clues which led to the arrest of the woman later identified as Sidra Bibi, 27, wife of Sardar Khalid Hussain, 45.

The police said Khalid Hussain worked in a hotel as a waiter while his wife served in a security company.

The police said the couple had married 11 months ago. Khalid was a resident of Abbottabad and his wife belonged to Dhoke Rajgan, Rawat.

Preliminary police investigation showed that the woman had already been married and was blessed with two children who later died.

She was then divorced by her husband. Later, she married Khalid who was also married but issueless.

As the couple remained childless, they planned to kidnap a newborn baby.

Police said the couple would be produced before the court of a magistrate for physical remand.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2020