Woman baby abductor sent to police custody by Sangli court

Kolhapur: A court in Sangli on Tuesday remanded a 24-year-old woman to police custody after she was arrested for allegedly abducting a 3-day-old baby boy from the Government Medical College And Hospital, Miraj, last week. She will be in police custody till May 8 as police try to determine why she took the baby and if she was part of a wider criminal network.

Sara Sahiba Sathe was arrested on Monday after a 60-hour manhunt, during which police relied on CCTV cameras and at least one informant to track her and the baby down to her home in Savlaj village of Tasgaon tehsil, in Sangli district. Sathe was also caught on camera leaving the hospital on Saturday after allegedly taking the baby, hailing down an autorickshaw with a bag in her hand. There were emotional scenes on Monday, as the police reunited the baby boy with his family.

"On Tuesday, we sought Sathe's custody to know her motives and find out if she was earlier involved in similar abductions or part of a gang," said Praneel Gilda, deputy superintendent of police, Miraj. "So far, she has told us how she abducted the baby from GMCH Miraj, but we would need to fact-check her claims," Gilda added.

Sathe has been booked under section 137(2) of BNS, at Mahatma Gandhi police station. The investigators said she was living with her second husband and had two daughters from an earlier marriage. She wanted a boy, the police said, adding that she had undergone an abortion a few weeks ago. Police said when she returned home to Savlaj village, she told relatives there she had delivered a boy and had even purchased baby formula to feed the infant.