Man, sister arrested in Beed for stealing baby boy from hospital

AURANGABAD: A 35-year old man and his sister were arrested on Tuesday on the charges of kidnapping for allegedly stealing a baby boy from a hospital in Ambejogai town of Beed district.
Amar Jogdand, along with his sister Savita, both residents of Samtanagar at Parli-Ves in Ambejogai, replaced a baby boy with his girl child at the Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Hospital and College in Ambejogai on Monday afternoon, said police.
The suspect is an autorickshaw driver, who already has two daughters and was unhappy after his wife delivered a third daughter at a hospital in Parli, about 100km from Ambejogai, four days ago, said police.
“The arrested brother-sister duo hatched a plan and decided to pick up a male child from any hospital and replace it with their female child.”
Beed superintendent of police Harssh Poddar told TOI that in the past, the district has been tainted with incidents of female foeticide, leading to a poor sex ratio. “We could not simply let another such crime happen for the sake of having a male child,” he said.
“Jogdand and his sister reached the maternity ward, where they found a male child next to a woman, Safina Shaikh, who was sleeping. The two kept the baby they were carrying and quietly walked away with the male child. The incident came to light after the mother woke up to feed the baby.”
The mother of the male child informed her family members, who pulled up the hospital administration. The CCTV cameras at the hospital caught the suspects and the photos were shared by police.