No evidence: ACE rules out inside job in newborn’s theft

The baby was stolen from BBH on September 10.


Our Correspondent November 14, 2012

RAWALPINDI:


After a month-long investigation, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has ruled out the possibility of “an insider’s involvement in a newborn baby’s theft case”. The case has been sent back to the district police.


However, the baby, who was stolen from the gynaecology department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital, is yet to be recovered despite passage of two months.

ACE Rawalpindi Circle Officer Muhammad Riaz told The Express Tribune that the department could not find any evidence against the three suspected staff members who were arrested earlier. The case has now been sent back to the Waris Khan police for further investigation.

He said one of the staffers had admitted to have entered the data of the woman who allegedly took away the baby by posing as a nurse. According to his statement, the woman had come to the ward for delivery and had given a fake name, address and CNIC number. However, apart from that, the ACE could not find any evidence of staffers’ involvement.

A three-member committee established by BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Asif Qadir Mir had earlier found the duty staff guilty of negligence, but had cleared them of direct involvement in the theft.

According to Muhammad Meherban, the baby’s father, the child was taken around midnight on September 10, when a middle-aged woman came to his wife and took away the baby, saying he needed some vaccinations.

The woman was later identified by Aqsa through CCTV footage. However, the fake entry left the police running in circles. A team was sent to Abbottabad to pick up the suspect from the address listed in the hospital register, but there was no such place in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.

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