Police arrest 26-year-old for abducting six newborns

She didn't steal babies for money but to rear them as her own.

Unable to conceive, 26-year-old Ritu Kapoor had taken to stealing newborns. On Sunday, she was arrested along with her accomplice Mohammed Zia Ul, by the West district police for allegedly kidnapping six babies.

According to the police, Ritu was arrested after the cops received a tip-off, following complaints of newborns going missing from various places near Rajouri Garden in west Delhi.

How she did it

Ritu, a college dropout, used to befriend mothers on the pretext of vaccinating their babies. Then she would steal them. Her business of selling artificial jewellery helped her come close to the mothers.

On October 21, Ritu had allegedly kidnapped a 19-month-old boy child, Santosh, after deceiving his mother.

The boy's mother had met her at Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital and Ritu had helped her to get the child vaccinated. Ritu also visited the boy's house on the pretext of presenting the mother artificial jewellery. Later, she ran away with the child when his mother left him alone with Ritu to get a glass of water.

Family pressure

During interrogation, Ritu said she was forced to steal babies because she was unable to conceive and her in-laws wanted her to have a child.

"To overcome social stigma and adverse comments by her in-laws, she (Ritu) kidnapped infants. She took help of Zia Ul, a rickshaw puller. But she got into trouble as the babies fell sick," said a police official, wishing anonymity.