Last year in May, a 31-year-old psychiatrist stole a baby boy soon after his birth and was arrested. The doctor’s name is Dr Rashmi Shashikumar, who had made a deal with a couple from North Karnataka, saying that it was their child which was delivered by a surrogate mother and gave them the baby.

Rashmi is a resident of Vijayanagar and till recently was working with a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road. According to the police the doctor is from Chikkodi in Belagavi district and had taken Rs 14.5 lakh from the couple and had also promised them a baby by surrogacy in May 2020.

The police traced the baby to Koppal in north Karnataka on Saturday, exactly a year after when he was taken from the hospital. He was brought to Bengaluru. The couple who was in shock said that they were made to believe the baby boy was their own child born through a surrogate mother whom they never met. The baby still remains with them and has undergone DNA tests with others, to confirm his biological parents.

On Sunday, Rashmi was arrested and is being kept in police custody with her 45-day-old baby girl. Last year, on 29^th May, Rashmi stole the baby from the BBMP government hospital in Chamarajpet. The baby’s parents, Naveed Pasha, who is an auto driver and Husna Banu, had come to Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh searching for a job. The baby boy was born around 7.50 a.m. and around 10 a.m., Pasha went to drop his sister-in-law home. A woman doctor spoke to Banu and the attendant gave her some pills on the doctors advice. Banu then fell asleep and when she woke up from her sleep 45 minutes later, her baby was missing.

Next day, a police complaint was filed with Chamrajpet police and the case was then transferred to Basavanagudi women police station by December 2020. During investigations, it was revealed that the woman doctor was not a staffer of the hospital. CCTV footage also showed the same woman was carrying the baby out of the hospital. Rashmi, who had posed as a hospital doctor, gave sleeping pills to Banu. A portrait of the suspected woman was drawn based on CCTV footage.

DCP (South) Harish Pandey formed a special team to trace the baby. He said that they questioned over 700 people and then finally reached the couple, who were believing that it was their own child. They have now brought the baby back into the city.

An investigating officer mentioned that Rashmi had met this couple while she was working with a private hospital in Hubballi in 2015. The couple had a special child and Rashmi had assured them that they can get a healthy child via surrogacy. Rashmi met this couple in 2019 and collected samples and materials for surrogacy from the father. She told the couple that she had found one woman in Bengaluru and has agreed to be the surrogate mother. The delivery will happen in May 2020.

As May was approaching, Rashmi hunted several government hospitals. She zeroed in on Chamrajpet hospital due to lack of proper security. She went to Husna Banus ward 3-4 times on 27 and 28 May and made a mental note of her bed as it was very close to the main door. On 29^th May, she entered the ward and saw Banu with the baby. She gave the attender sleeping pills and asked her to give it to Banu. As soon as Banu fell asleep, Rashmi picked up her baby and immediately left the hospital. She went to her friends place in Viajayanagar and asked the couple to come over there.

Source: ET Healthworld