Doctor Who Sold Newborn Baby Stolen From Hospital To Couple For $20,000 Arrested

A 31-year-old doctor who allegedly stole a baby boy moments after his birth and then sold the infant to a couple last year claiming that it was from a surrogate mother has been arrested.

Rashmi Shashikumar, a psychiatrist from Bengaluru, a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, was arrested Sunday for stealing the baby from another hospital and selling him to a couple on May 29, 2020. The doctor received $20,000 from them in return.

The child's biological parents, Naveed Pasha and Husna Banu, had filed a police complaint a day after the newborn went missing, Times of India reported.

Investigators said Shashikumar took the baby away from Banu's bed while she was asleep. Pasha had gone out to drop a relative home at the time. Shashikumar reportedly took the help of hospital staff to give Banu sleeping pills.

"On May 29, she entered the ward and found Banu with the baby. She gave the attendant sleeping pills, asking her to feed it to Banu," Harish Pandey, deputy commissioner of police, said.

Investigation revealed that Shashikumar met a woman, identified as Anupama, and her husband in 2015. The couple who had a special needs child wanted another baby but could not conceive due to health issues, the investigating officer said.

Shashikumar struck a deal with the couple, promising to give them a baby through a surrogate mother if they agree to pay her around $20,000, The New Indian Express reported.

The doctor stole the baby and gave the boy to the couple telling them that the child was born to a surrogate mother whom they had never met. They believed it and took the child home.

The CCTV footage at the hospital showed Shashikumar carrying the baby out of the hospital. "We questioned more than 700 persons and finally reached the couple who believed that it was their child. We have brought the baby back to the city," Pandey added.

Police said she had searched several hospitals to carry out her plan and zeroed in on the hospital as the facility did not have tight security. She had also entered the hospital ward multiple times before the incident and had made a mental note of Banu's bed as it was closer to the main door, police said.