KATHMANDU, Feb 24: Police have arrested the woman involved in the theft of a baby from Paropakar Maternity Hospital. The arrested woman has been identified as Mankumari Singh from Dailekh.
It has been revealed that Singh had been married for three years without having any children. The infant was rescued last night from Kadaghari by a joint effort of the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office and the District Police Range, Kathmandu, leading to the arrest.
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On Friday afternoon, Singh abducted a 26-day-old baby, whose mother hails from Kavre, from the hospital. Following the theft, police initiated a search operation based on footage from closed-circuit (CCTV) cameras and located Singh and the child in Kadaghari.
Upon the police team's arrival at her residence, Singh claimed she had given birth to the baby, even asserting that the birth occurred en route. However, evidence from the CCTV footage, particularly the clothes she was wearing at the time, confirmed that she had indeed taken the baby from the maternity hospital. Police have also recovered the clothes she was seen wearing at the hospital.
The CCTV footage further revealed that her sister had traveled a kilometer to pick her up, leading to the sister's arrest as well. "It appears that she visited the maternity hospital with a premeditated plan to steal the baby," an investigating officer said. "Her sister came to pick her up, indicating she might have been complicit."
Similarly, the police have detained her husband, who serves in the Nepali army. The child was safely returned to its father just before midnight Friday. An officer stated, "Considering the health concerns, we decided to reunite the child with its family
