CCTV footage help Police make some headway

The BMC continued to face wrath after a two-year-old infant was stolen from civic-run VN Desai hospital in Vile Parle on Friday. On Monday, a delegation from Mumbai Mahila Agadhi led by Shaina NC, a BJP national executive member, accused the civic body of negligence and met additional municipal commissioner Ashish Kumar Singh to submit a document comprising seven pointers to augment the security in all civic hospitals. “The BMC should address the issue urgently and nab the gang involved,” said Shaina NC. “It should work in tandem with the police to deal with the problem holistically.” An infant was stolen from Sion hospital in 2009, and incidents of babies getting swapped were reported from Sion and Nair hospitals in 2007 and 2010. The BMC denied there were any no loopholes. “It is a case of negligence on behalf of the parents, and not a security lapse,” said Singh.

 “On the lines of railway announcements, we intend to play audio messages in hospitals alerting people to beware of suspicious persons in the premises and urging them to report the same to hospital staff or authorities,” Dr Sanjay Oak, medical director (civic hospitals), told media. “We plan to put up pictorial alerts displaying dos and don’ts on the issue.”  All counters for paperwork will be set up near the outpatients department on a single floor, to avoid such thefts, he said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon deploy 200 women guards in all civic hospitals. The Standing Committee of the BMC last week gave its nod for deploying 200 women guards at major civic and peripheral hospitals in the city, Manisha Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner, said. “Shaina NC, member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive, led a delegation to the office of Ashish Kumar Singh, additional municipal commissioner, on Monday and demanded that security measures at civic hospitals should be more stringent. She also demanded that visiting hours should be restricted and that hospitals should provide parents and their baby matching rubber bands for easy identification.

The police are questioning residents of nearby localities to find out whether they had seen any woman with an unknown child. “We suspect that a woman who was being coerced to deliver a (boy) child could be instrumental in the kidnapping,” said an officer from Vakola police station. The police are also exploring involvement of beggar gangs. Thanks to the CCTV cameras installed at VN Desai Hospital, Santacruz (East), the Vakola police have been able to identify the woman who kidnapped two-month-old Ayush Mishra on Friday. Police said the woman had been seen at the hospital for two days before she kidnapped the child. “We have footage of the woman while she was entering the hospital around 10.30 am. It is the only footage in which her face is clearly visible,” said an investigating officer, requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Investigators said that they did not have footage where she interacted with Ayush’s grandmother, as some cameras were non-functional. “Also, the woman had covered her face while leaving the hospital premises,” the officer added. Hospital employees told the Vakola police that they had seen the woman visiting the hospital for at least two days before the kidnapping. Anil Kharade, senior police inspector at Vakola police station, said, “Sketches of the accused are being made with the help of CCTV footage, and on the basis of the description by Ayush’s grandmother.”