A 34-year-old psychiatrist has been arrested by the Basavanagudi women’s police for stealing a newborn and selling it for Rs 15 lakh to a couple looking to have a baby through surrogacy.
Rashmi, a psychiatrist with a private hospital, was caught based on a sketch drawn from information collected from the baby’s mother and the CCTV footage obtained from the BBMP hospital where the baby was born.
Police inspector Meenakshi H M, who lead the investigation, analysed about 30,000 phone calls from the nearby cell tower dump.
Rashmi, a consultant for the childless couple for more than a year, convinced Anupama that she would be the surrogate for her baby. Rashmi falsely claimed to be pregnant, showed scan reports as proof and even set May 29, 2020, as the date of delivery.
As the date neared, Rashmi went to hospitals looking for a baby. She took away the baby boy of Husna Banu, two hours after he was born. She called Anupama to inform her that she was coming with the baby and later exchanged the newborn for the money. Rashmi used the money to repay loans from relatives in Belagavi.
Police zeroed in on Rashmi after the technical analysis. They handed the baby back to his parents. The baby’s parents had approached the high court to trace the missing infant and the case registered at Chamarajpet was transferred to the Basavanagudi women’s police station.
A team of 20 police officials worked on the case to solve it.