RAWALPINDI: A day-old baby was kidnapped from the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) but was recovered within a few hours by the police on Sunday.

According to police, the baby was recovered from a couple who lived in Jhanda Chichi in the Civil Lines area. The suspect worked as a waiter in a hotel in Chaklala Scheme III while his wife was a housewife. The couple had a disabled child and reportedly had planned to kidnap a newborn from a hospital.

Mohammad Fiaz lodged an FIR with New Town police, stating that his wife gave birth to a girl on Saturday in a hospital in Talagang. However, he said, his condition deteriorated and was referred to a hospital in Rawalpindi.

He said they reached the HFH at around 10:30am on Saturday and his wife was admitted to the gynaecology ward. Sometime after his wife was allotted a bed, a woman who introduced herself as Saima approached her and befriended her.

He said at around 7:30am on Sunday, the woman and a man, who identified himself as Babar Gulzar, took the baby from her mother saying that they were taking her outside for sunbath as she was feeling cold. The suspects also got the card for taking the baby outside the ward which was issued by the hospital management in the name of the baby’s father.

Oblivious to what was going to happen, the mother allowed them to take her baby, however, when the couple did not return, she got worried. The father and attendants of other patients started searching for the couple and later involved the HFH management and police.

Mohammad Fiaz said he immediately asked the hospital management for CCTV footage through which they were able to identify the man and the woman. He said the woman managed to leave the hospital with the baby but the man remained behind. He was about to leave the hospital after changing his jacket when the police detained him.

After a brief investigation, he confessed to the crime and then called his wife to come to the hospital with the baby. “We are thankful to the police who promptly responded, traced the accused and reunited our baby with us,” Fiaz said.

The police team launched an investigation after reviewing the CCTV footage in which the woman, who was clad in a burka, could be seen taking away the newborn and also being questioned by the hospital staff.

A police spokesman said the suspects were traced and detained within a few hours through technical and human intelligence and the baby was handed over to the family.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2023