Police recover baby kidnapped from hospital three days ago

Police arrest woman and her accomplice

RAWALPINDI:

Police on Friday recovered a three-month-old baby three days after he was kidnapped from the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

Waris Khan police also arrested a woman and her accomplice, who had kidnapped the child from the outpatient department of the BBH. Police traced the baby and handed him over to the parents.

Three-month-old Musa Aftab was kidnapped from the OPD of the Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Wednesday after his mother, Saima Noreen, handed over him to her 10-year-old daughter Ayesha Fatima on the premises of the OPD before she went for a check-up.

Malik Aftab, the father of the kidnapped child and a resident of Pindigheb, had lodged an FIR with the Waris Khan police stating that he visited BBH for a family check-up and his wife Saima Noreen handed over the three-month-old to their daughter Ayesha in the OPD before she went for her check-up.

Ahmed had said that after his wife came out after her check-up, she found her son missing and their daughter said that a woman took the baby with her and disappeared.

The police after registering a case prepared a sketch of the accused woman with the help of Ayesha Fatima and obtained CCTV footage of closed-circuit cameras installed outside the hospital along with the Murree Road and the mero track.

A police officer involved in the investigation told The Express Tribune that in the CCTV footage, the accused woman carrying a child was seen riding in a rickshaw. The police team traced the rickshaw and its driver at night who said in the preliminary investigation that he dropped her in Sadiqabad from where she embarked on another rickshaw to go Jhamra in Morgah.

The police after questioning the two rickshaw drivers started a search for the woman and the child in the said area. The footage of the closed-circuit cameras installed on houses and shops in the area was also obtained. The police, with the help of intelligence agencies, raided a house in the Morgah area and safely recovered the child and arrested the woman along with her partner. The child was handed over to his parents, who left for home in Pindi Gheb.

Police sources said that the arrested accused will be presented before a local court for their physical remand and further investigation.

Earlier, BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Sohail Ahmed Chaudhry said that he had constituted a fact-finding committee, which said that the kidnapping of the child did not prove any negligence on the part of the hospital administration.

He said that the CTV cameras were also closely reviewed but the woman was not seen at any other location except for in the OPD. Dr Sohail said that the security system of the hospital had once again been reviewed according to the SOPs.

Earlier, the Waris Khan police had registered a case against an unidentified woman and obtained the CCTV footage from the hospital. Police had said that they were making all-out efforts to trace the woman who had kidnapped the child.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2022.