Balasore: A newborn boy was allegedly stolen by an unidentified woman from the Mother and Child Health Centre of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Balasore, Sunday.
With this, two newborns have been stolen from the hospital in the last two months which has triggered outrage among locals.
Locals said that Anita Dandapata, wife of Purnachandra Dandapata, of Kulachada village under Baliapal police limits was admitted to the DHH in Balasore late Saturday night.
She was accompanied by her mother-in-law and local ASHA worker Sandhyarani Jena at the time of her admission to the hospital. She delivered a baby boy at the hospital around midnight.
According to reports, an unidentified woman walked up to Anita’s bed in the wee hours of Sunday and took the newborn in her arms. She also spoke to the ASHA worker. Later, when the ASHA worker and Anita’s mother-in-law went out for some work, the unidentified woman allegedly told the mother that she was taking the baby boy to the doctor.
However, as soon as Anita handed over the baby to her, the woman fled the scene. Later, Anita’s family members launched a frantic search to trace the woman and the newborn, but in vain. Later, they lodged a complaint with the Medical outpost.
Police scanned the CCTV footage and came across the video grab of the unidentified woman. They have detained the ASHA worker and the on-duty security guard for questioning in this connection. Earlier, a newborn boy of Tikili Barik, wife of Susant Barik, of Athabatia village under Baliapal police limits had been stolen from the hospital when the newborn was admitted for treatment of his jaundice, April 4.
It was alleged that someone replaced the baby boy with a baby girl and fled the scene. The police rescued the baby boy 24 hours of the kidnapping and handed him over to the family members.
PNN
