PANAJI: A day after a child was kidnapped from the Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital premises in Bambolim, Goa police cracked the case and arrested a woman from Saleli, Sattari.
The mother of the toddler has identified the baby as her one-month-old son.
North Goa SP Shobhit Saxena told TOI that the district police as well as crime branch were roped in in massive numbers to find the child, and it was this search coupled with technical surveillance that helped them crack the case.
“They have arrested Vishranti Gawas in the case,” said deputy SP Santosh Dessai.
On Saturday morning, Goa police released CCTV footage and photos of the woman suspected of having kidnapped the baby,.
The SP said that Gawas already has four daughters.
Police said that a month ago, she told her husband that she delivered a baby boy at GMC, and didn’t allow him to visit her at the hospital due to Covid.
When she reached home from hospital “with an object wrapped like a baby”, she didn’t let her family visit the “baby”, which she kept inside a room.
Police said that her husband told them that the family never heard the baby crying at home.
Saturday, when Gawas was arrested, was supposed to be the baby’s naming ceremony.
“I congratulate Goa police for successfully leading one of the biggest manhunts in the state and safely rescuing a one-month-old child within 24 hours.
The safety and security of citizens is the top priority of our government,” CM Pramod Sawant tweeted.
According to police officials, the child’s mother was standing with the infant near the coffee shop within the hospital premises.
The accused woman approached the mother and pleaded for food.
The accused convinced the mother to purchase food for her and to allow her to hold the child while the mother bought the food.
The child’s mother went to the coffee shop, but on her return, was shocked to see the accused and her child missing from the spot.
The mother raised an alarm, and police personnel posted at the GMC outpost rushed to the spot.
However, on carrying out a search, the accused woman could not be traced on Friday.