‘Stolen’ 8-Day-Old Newborn Boy Rescued In Odisha’s Balasore

Balasore: A newborn boy was rescued hours after being allegedly stolen from district headquarters hospital in Odisha’s Balasore town on Thursday.

Police rescued the infant from Durgadevi village early this morning and have detained the accused woman, who was caught on camera leaving the hospital campus with the the baby, for questioning.

According to sources, the eight-day old son of Sushant Barik and his wife Tikili Rani of Athabatia in Baliapal was stolen from the SNCU of the state-run hospital while undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with jaundice around noon. The CMDO had given a written assurance to the parents, who sat on a dharna in the hospital, to hand them over their baby by 8 am on Friday.

They had also lodged a complaint with the local police, which examined footage of nearby CCTV cameras and conducted raids to locate the infant and later traced him at Durgadevi village. The infant was brought back to the hospital around 4 am and united with the parents.

Sources further said that the accused woman had brought her daughter to the hospital for treatment. She, however, left the hospital with Barik’s son, leaving her daughter on the same bed. “On the basis of the footage and our technical inputs, we zeroed in on the woman around 1 am. Subsequently, a team was formed under our city DSP, which then reached the location and rescued the baby. Further investigation is underway,” said Balasore SP Sagarika Nath.