Stolen infant rescued, reunited with mother

was finally rescued 72 hours after the incident from Chopra under Uttar Dinajpur district 

PRASHANT ACHARYA, EOI, SILIGURI, APRIL 23, 2023 : The two-day old infant that had been stolen from the Obstetrics and Gynaecology ward of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) was finally rescued 72 hours after the incident from Chopra under Uttar Dinajpur district on Saturday night and reunited with the mother of the baby.   

Two women have been arrested for their involvement in kidnapping the baby. A  joint  team of  the Special Operations Group of Siliguri Metropolitan Police, the Detective Department, the Matigara Police Station and NBMCH Police Outpost caught a mother and a daughter along with the baby from Balarampur village in Chopra.

On Saturday night, the police arrested Sita Das (45) and her daughter Anju Das (24) for kidnapping the baby from the ward of NBMCH. The two stole the baby on April 29 and took it to Chopra by boarding a private bus from Siliguri. The police have also detained Pradip and  Rahul Das, brother of Anju, for questioning.

The arrest was made on the basis of various CCTV footage at NBMCH, different bus stops and other locations. Ranjita Singha (24) of Bhogbhita in Batasi near Siliguri, sheds tears of happiness after her baby was handed over to her by the police on Saturday night. 

On Sunday, Additional Commissioner of Police of Siliguri Subhedra Kumar and ACP of  Detective Department Siliguri Rajen Chhetri announced in a news conference that the baby had been rescued in good health and two women had been arrested.

According to ACP Kumar, Sita Das had stolen the baby from NBMCH for her daughter Anju  who was not conceiving a child since her marriage a couple of years ago. He said Sita stole the baby from the ward while her daughter Anju was waiting for her mother on the way. Both of  them boarded a private bus for Chopra from Siliguri after stealing the baby.

Both the mother and the daughter have been remanded to police custody for seven days after the production in a Siliguri Court. During this period, they would be interrogated to ensure if any other persons were involved in the theft and also the actual cause for stealing the baby would  be ascertained. 

Nityananda Singha, father of the baby, thanked the rescue team and said that he would remain grateful forever towards the team for the speedy investigation to recover his baby and reunite the infant with the mother. 

Superintendent of NBMCH Sanjay Mallick said that it was a good lesson to be learnt from the incident by all. The hospital authorities were tense for the last two days but the hard work had finally earned success.