Woman Fakes Pregnancy, Kidnaps Newborn from Delhi Hospital

In a shocking incident at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, a 27-year-old woman named Pooja stole a newborn baby after faking her own pregnancy for several months. Unable to have children, she grew desperate to maintain the illusion of motherhood and devised a plan to steal a child and pass it off as her own. Pooja has been married for seven years.

The incident was reported on April 15, when a father made a PCR call at 4 p.m. to the Chanakyapuri Police Station, saying his one-day-old daughter had gone missing from Ward 5 of Safdarjung Hospital. The child's mother, who had delivered the day before, stepped out for a cup of coffee, only to find her baby gone when she returned. The frantic search by the family was fruitless.

Police quickly opened an investigation and examined CCTV recordings from within the hospital. They observed a short, obese woman, her face partially hidden by a dupatta, roaming the corridors and speaking to patients. The surveillance recorded her activity but did not film her leaving the hospital complex because there was inadequate coverage.

Expanding their search, investigators reviewed footage from over 80 CCTV cameras around the Safdarjung Enclave and AIIMS Metro Station. They traced the woman boarding a train at AIIMS toward Samaypur Badli, getting off at INA to confuse the trail, and later boarding another train to Huda City Centre. She eventually exited at Hauz Khas Metro Station and was last seen walking toward the Panchsheel flyover area, which lacked adequate CCTV monitoring.

The investigators next targeted auto-rickshaws that were plying around the flyover. Upon viewing the fuzzy footage and verifying more than 20 combinations of registrations, they traced the vehicle that had carried the woman and child. The driver revealed that he had dropped them near Gulak Wali Gali in Malviya Nagar.

Using local intelligence, police tracked Pooja to her parents’ house in Malviya Nagar, where she had returned with the kidnapped infant and claimed to her husband that she had given birth. She was arrested and taken into custody, and the baby was safely reunited with her biological parents.

MedBound Times connected with Dr. Munish Raizada, MD, FAAP, for his thoughts on this shocking incident. He said:

"Code Pink policy should have been in place at Safdurjung hospital. This is a busy hospital with huge delivery volume. Neonatal bracelets if instituted would prevent such incidences in the future."

According to the police, Pooja had moved back in with her parents six months earlier and told them she was pregnant. She also informed her husband, who lived separately in Sarai Kale Khan, about her supposed pregnancy. When he began pressing her for the due date, she decided to steal a child to sustain the lie. On April 14—the same day the real mother gave birth—Pooja left her home under the pretense of being admitted for delivery.

Police said this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment crime. Pooja had allegedly visited hospitals several times, observing patients and identifying vulnerable families. On the day of the kidnapping, she mingled with hospital staff and patients, scanning for an opportunity. At 3:17 p.m., she quietly walked out with the infant while no one was watching.

The prompt and well-coordinated action by the police—headed by SHO Rajneesh Kumar and Sub-Inspector Sunil Gaur—helped in cracking the case in hours. An FIR was filed under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and DCP (Southwest) Surender Choudhary verified that the child was safe and unharmed and reunited with her family.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Sai Sindhuja K/MSM)