This story is from June 18, 2021

Karnataka: Child to remain with Koppal couple until DNA report out

Karnataka: Child to remain with Koppal couple until DNA report out
Picture for representational purpose only.
BENGALURU: A city court on Wednesday permitted police to collect DNA samples of two couples, one from Benglauru and another from Koppal, and a one-year-old boy to confirm his biological parents. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC), meanwhile, decided that the child should remain in the custody of the Koppal couple until the report arrives.
According to police, the child, born to the Bengaluru couple, was kidnapped a year ago from a city hospital by a psychiatrist, who handed over the newborn to the Koppal couple, claiming that he was their child born out of surrogacy.

The baby was abducted hours after he was born on May 29, 2020 to the wife of an autorickshaw driver in a BBMP maternity home at Chamrajpet. Police arrested Dr Rashmi Shashikumar, 34, a resident of Vijayanagar, on charges of kidnapping the baby and rescued him on May 29, 2021. Police had walked into the house of the child in Koppal, where the parents were celebrating his first birthday.
Dr Rashmi had taken around Rs 14.5 lakh from the couple after subjecting them to medical formalities for surrogacy. Rashmi had lied to the couple that she had found a woman who had agreed to become surrogate mother to their child and the baby would be delivered in late May 2021. To keep her words, Rashmi stole the baby, said police.
"Now, the decision on the biological parents plays a vital role in the case. It is the only evidence to prove that it was the same child stolen from the maternity home. The doctors have collected the blood samples of all the five persons - two couples and the child - for the test," an investigating officer said.
Meanwhile, CWC officials and police held a meeting to discuss who should keep the child until the DNA reports arrive. "In the meeting, adhering to the high court guidelines, it was decided that the present parents should keep the child with them. Accordingly, the parents and the child, who were in the city all these days, are travelling back to Koppal. Once the DNA reports arrive, we will initiate legal proceedings of handing over the child to its biological parents," an officer said.
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