Baby gets back, nurse arrested

* Newborn was taken by childless woman whose mother-in-law threatened to throw her out

KARACHI: A new born baby who was kidnapped from the New Karachi Sindh Government Hospital was recovered by the Anti-Violent Crime Unit (AVCU) late night Tuesday from a house in Liaquatabad. The police have also arrested a woman, claiming that the baby is hers, contradictory to a test carried out on her.

According to the AVCU’s DSP Choudhry Amir Hamid, his team raided a house near Subhani Masjid, Liaquatabad, on Wednesday around 1:00 p.m. and found the baby there. The team arrested Mehwish, who at first claimed that the baby was her own but later confessed to have bought it from Sadiqa, a lady health visitor at the hospital.

Sadiqa was arrested by the police after getting information from Mehwish. During the initial inquiry, she said she sold the baby to Mehwish for Rs 40,000 but Mehwish had not paid her the money yet.

According to Mehwish, her mother-in-law had threatened to throw her out of the house if she did not give birth to a child. She had approached a nurse at the hospital, Sarafin Abdullah. Sarafin is also allegedly Mehwish’s old friend.

After the arrest, the baby and Mehwish, wife of Asfahan Shamim, were kept in custody at the AVCU headquarters before a medical examination could be carried out.

Shedding more light on the case, DSP Hamid said that Shamim worked in a local wedding hall in Nazimabad No. 1. The police, on getting a tip-off from an informant, reached the hall and started interrogating Shamim, who revealed that his wife had just had a baby two days ago at the New Karachi Sindh Government Hospital.

A DNA test of the baby and the real mother is being processed and will take a month. However, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed handed the baby back to its alleged parents and announced a reward for the policemen who solved the case.

Ahmed said that the nurse and other staff who were involved in the crime will be terminated from their posts once the investigation report is complete. They have, however, been arrested, along with Mehwish.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/12/2008