Woman, teen daughter held in Kerala for kidnapping five-day-old child from TN hospital

Coimbatore: A woman and her teenage daughter were apprehended on Monday in Palakkad of neighbouring Kerala for allegedly stealing a five-day-old girl from the Government Hospital in Pollachi in the district, police said.

The duo were identified as 34-year-old Shameena and her 14-year-old daughter from Palakkad, and they are being interrogated, police said.

The newborn baby was abducted from the hospital in the early hours of Sunday and police had formed 12 special teams to trace the abductors.

Based on CCTV footage from various places, the duo was traced at City railway station, after they had boarded a bus from Pollachi and travelled to Palakkad in a train, they said.

One of the special teams rushed to Koduvayur near Palakkad and rescued the child and handed the baby over to its mother Dhivyabharathi around 5 am on Monday.

Interrogation is on to ascertain whether the woman, who was apparently deserted by her husband, is involved in child trafficking, police added.