Kottayam: The woman, who abducted a newborn from the Kottayam Medical College Hospital on Thursday, has been arrested.
According to the police, the accused Neethu Raj (33) hailing from Kalamassery in Ernakulam district abducted the infant to blackmail her lover Ibrahim Badushah.
Ibrahim (28) from Vazhayil House in HMT colony, who was also taken into custody by police.
The abducted girl child belonged to S Sreejith and Aswathi from 66 Mile, Valiyathara in Vandiperiyar.
Child abducted for blackmail
After meeting through social networking platform TikTok, Ibrahim and Neethu were involved in a long time affair. Neethu had informed Ibrahim that she was a divorcee. Though Neethu was impregnated in the relationship, she suffered a miscarriage later. But Ibrahim was left in the dark about the development. Ibrahim's relatives were also aware of their relationship and Neethu's pregnancy.
Neethu's husband was kept in the loop about her pregnancy and miscarriage.
Ibrahim had borrowed a sum of Rs 30 lakh and gold from Neethu. After receiving the money, he abandoned her for another marriage.
Angered by his betrayal, the jilted lover decided to abduct a newborn and blackmail him claiming the child is his, and recover her gold and money.
The abduction
The incident had come to light on Wednesday after a Mundakayam native who had delivered three days ago reached the nurses' station enquiring about her baby that was taken away by 'a woman dressed as a nurse'.
The woman took the baby for phototherapy to treat newborn jaundice at around 2.45pm. The father had gone out to buy lunch at the time. However, the mother grew suspicious after the baby was not returned even after an hour.
The police nabbed the baby thief from a hotel near the hospital. An eight-year-old boy was with Neethu when she was taken into custody. Neethu has said that the boy is her son.
The Thiruvalla native is an event planner at an event management company in Kochi.
The accused, who was spotted in the hospital premises for the past few days, had visited the gynaecology ward several times before the executing the plan. It is suspected that Neethu received help from the hospital staff.
