Lucknow: The police on Wednesday arrested a woman for allegedly kidnapping a three-year-old boy from a Community Health Centre (CHC) in Shivrajpur area of the district, on Tuesday.
The accused, Puja Chauhan, is a resident of Gaura Newada in Shivrajpur. “She was living away from her husband due to an interpersonal conflict and was depressed, because her husband had taken their two children with him,” said the police.
As Puja had been missing her children since a long time, she decided to kidnap a child and started frequenting hospitals, said the police.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (West), Akash Patel, that on Tuesday, a three-year-old son of Aruna Devi, identified as Satyam, was bitten by a stray dog had gone to the CHC with his mother to get rabies vaccination.
“Satyam had his first injection on Dec 22, whereas the second injection of rabies was to be given on Tuesday,” said Patel.
Sensing an opportunity, Puja, who was also present at the hospital, tempted Satyam with toffee and took him away while his mother had gone to complete the formalities at the reception, Patel said.
Satyam’s mother Aruna immediately apprised the CHC authorities of the incident, who in turn informed local police .
Patel said, “Soon, we scanned CCTV cameras installed in the area and found a woman escaping with the child from the CHC. We then questioned several people and managed to ascertain the woman’s identity. Later, nearly ten police teams that were formed to crack the case, visited all the possible places wherever Puja could go. On Wednesday, one of the police teams zeroed in on Puja at her hideout and arrested her and recovered the child -Satyam from her possession.”
The ADCP said the woman has been booked under relevant IPC sections and has been arrested.
“A cash reward of Rs 25,000 has been announced for the police team involved in the breakthrough,” he ADCP added.
