Two arrested in child swapping case

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 25

Shimla police today arrested two persons — staff nurse Pushpa Devi and mid wife Rupa Devi — in connection with the child swapping case at Kamla Nehru Hospital (KNH). Both the women were deployed at the hospital on the night of May 26 last when a baby boy was swapped with a baby girl.

Pushpa hailing from Karsog and Rupa from Panchkula have been booked for cheating and kidnapping from the lawful guardians, said SP D W Negi, who said it was an isolated case and there was no possibility of a scam. Two more persons could be arrested in connection with the case, he added.

The arrest was made after the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report on October 19 verified that the newly born were swapped. Anjna Thakur and her husband Jitender Thakur are not the nearest biological parents of baby boy born on the night of May 26 at the KNH. On the contrary, they are the nearest biological parents of baby girl of Sheetal, report found.

Anil Kumar had complained that his wife Sheetal, who is herself a staff nurse at IGMC, had delivered a boy on the night of May 26 and was informed that she had given birth to a baby boy but after a few minutes, the attendants told him that it was a baby girl and asked him to bring clothes for a female child.

Sheetal said, “I was informed that he is a boy but later a baby girl was handed over to me”. However, the couple decided to go for DNA test and consequently DNA test of both the mother and the daughter was conducted twice.

The reports of the DNA test ruled out the possibility of maternity and stated that the “probability of the maternity of the mother with the child was zero per cent following which the couple asked the hospital authorities but when no satisfactory answer was given they approached the police. However, both the couples have agreed to swap the babies.