WHODUNIT?: Police recording statements of Niloufer Hospital staff, following the `theft' of an infant from the hospital on Wednesday. Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Abandoned by parents, taken ill and now stolen by strangers, in just 20 days of her birth, the infant, Karuna Sree, finds herself embroiled in a fresh crisis each day.

The baby which was found abandoned in Satavahana Express about 10 days ago and shifted to Niloufer Hospital for medicare by Sishu Vihar staff was stolen from the hospital ward on Wednesday morning. The incident occurred when the Sishu Vihar staffer deputed to take care of the child went out to `fetch some milk.'

Ayah's version

Susheela, the Sishu Vihar ayah, claims to have been out for only five minutes around 10.30 a.m. "When I returned with milk, the child was missing from the cradle," she said.

Parents attending to their children in nearby cradles pleaded ignorance about the intruder who took away the infant. The ayah claims to have informed the duty nurse while going out, but the hospital staff disputed her version. Incidentally, Karuna Sree's case sheet was also missing from the cradle.

Complaint registered

Says the Superintendent N.C.K.Reddy, "as the case sheet was there with the child, our security might have assumed that she was being taken to the old block for a check-up."

A complaint was registered with the Nampally police and statements from the staff and other attendants at the ward recorded.

According to Sishu Vihar incharge officer Swarupa Rani, the infant wrapped in a bag was found beneath a seat in Satavahana Express at Secunderabad Railway Station about 10 days ago. The Railway Police shifted the baby to Sishu Vihar where the staff christened her Karuna Sree. She was brought to Niloufer Hospital on Tuesday after she developed diarrhoea. Prameela, the Sishu Vihar ayah, was with the child in the night and was relieved by her colleague Susheela on Wednesday morning, hours after which Karuna Sree went missing.

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