The Sonepur police on Monday arrested the father and maternal grandmother of a newborn girl who was allegedly stolen from a government hospital on Saturday.
Police said the duo had fabricated the incident and tried to showcase it as a case of theft meant to sell the child.
As per reports, the father of the newborn, Gajendra Tandi, a resident of Sandha village under Birmaharajpur Police limits of the district, had admitted his wife Santoshini to the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) on Friday after she complained of labour pain.
On November 19, Santoshini gave birth to a baby girl and was forced to lie on the verandah of the concerned department with the newborn for post-delivery treatment due to the unavailability of a bed at the DHH.
The other day (November 20), Santoshini went to the toilet in the morning after handing over her newborn to her mother-in-law. As per the FIR, an unidentified woman approached the mother-in-law and took the newborn on the pretext of holding the baby for some time. She suddenly disappeared with the baby girl, it was alleged.
Based on the complaints of Tandi, the Sonepur police had launched an investigation. Later on Sunday (November 21), the police rescued the baby girl who was found abandoned by the side of a road. The police suspected the involvement of a close relative in the abduction plot and had intensified the probe by summoning them for questioning.
During questioning, the maternal grandmother of the newborn allegedly admitted to taking away the baby along with her son-in-law and had plans to sell her. Later, she had tried to fabricate the incident as a case of child theft.