CHENNAI: A day after a woman kidnapped a baby from Kannagi Nagar by duping the mother, promising to get her government aid, the police on Friday tracked down the newborn to a hospital in Thiruverkadu and detained the kidnapper.
An initial probe revealed that the woman had been enacting a pregnancy drama for several months and kidnapped the baby to raise him as her own but abandoned him at the hospital after he had an epileptic attack.
The police have detained the woman identified as Deepa. On Thursday, Deepa went to a house in Kannagi Nagar claiming to be a government staff. She informed the mother Nishanthi about various welfare schemes available for young mothers and convinced her to accompany her to T Nagar to complete the process.
When they stopped for lunch, Deepa saw an opportunity and made away with the baby. Nishanthi alerted her family members and filed a police complaint.
Police teams went through CCTV footage and zeroed in on the autorickshaws that Deepa hired. The police eventually traced the child to a hospital in Thiruverkadu.
Investigations revealed that the woman had been duping her husband for several months by claiming to be pregnant and would make him sit at the reception while pretending to visit doctors at the hospital.