Residents help cops nab child-lifter

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The case of the stolen baby took yet another twist as the Chennai police on Sa­turday claimed they have arrested a woman who co­nfessed to stealing the fo­ur-day-old girl from her mother Kalaiarasi at R.S.R.M. hospital, Roya­pu­ram, on October 25. Yoge­swari Ja­gannathan, 22, to­ld the po­lice she decided to take the baby since she has had three miscarriages and ye­arned for a child, ac­co­r­d­ing to Royapuram as­sis­tant commissioner of po­lice Peer Mohamed who led the hunt for the abductor.

The police had formed a special team to nab the child-lifter following a co­m­plaint from Kalaiarasi that a woman in her early 30s was found fondling her baby when she returned to her bed from the toilet. The stranger told the pro­ud mother she wanted to show the pretty girl to her husband standing just outside the ward. Kalai­arasi agreed, but the wom­an did not return. How­ever, CC­TV images in the hospital showed the child-lifter ru­shing down the verandah with the baby and police flashed the pictures in the media.

“We got our big break wh­en residents of Para­me­s­waran Nagar in Tondia­r­pet told us late Friday night that a woman named Yogeswari had got a newborn baby and was claiming she was the mother even though they had not seen her pregnant. When we questioned the woman, she admitted to the crime,” the AC said.

Yogeswari was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody and the girl baby recovered from her has been admitted to the R.S.R.M. hospital from where Kalaiarasi was discharged and sent home only last week. The mandatory DNA matching would be done before returning the baby to Kalaiarasi, the AC said.

A girl baby was recently found in an EMU train about a week after Ka­laiarasi lost her child and the police believed this child could be hers. The baby’s green sweater and gloves matched. Also, the police concluded that the abductor developed cold feet after seeing her CCTV images in the media and dumped the child in the train.

With Kalaiarasi pleading that she be allowed to feed this EMU baby pending the DNA match, the police conceded the request on humanitarian grounds. She was visiting the baby in the government home to feed and return to her bed at R.S.R.M. hospital several km away.

Now with Yogeswari turning up with the stolen baby, it remains to be seen if the EMU child will continue to bask in Kalaiarasi’s warmth.