Andhra hospital worker held for stealing baby

Sulochana admitted to the police that she was selling the infant to a childless couple for Rs 10,000.

Police on Saturday, claimed to have solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a baby from a government-run hospital in Hyderabad, with the arrest of an employee for allegedly "stealing" the infant.

Sulochana, a caretaker at Niloufer Children's Hospital, was arrested three days after the baby girl went missing. The 20-day-old infant was recovered from her house, police said.

She initially denied any knowledge of the missing child, but later confessed to the crime. She told police officials that she was trying to sell the baby to a childless couple for Rs 10,000, police said.

The baby, which was abandoned by her parents, was found in a train at Secunderabad Railway Station about 10 days ago. Railway staff shifted her to Shishu Vihar, a childcare centre run by the Women and Child Welfare Department.

Christened Karunasree by a caretaker at Shishu Vihar, the infant was admitted to hospital on September 12, with diarrhoea-related complications. She was reported missing from her cradle at the hospital on September 13.