STAFF CORRESPONDENT:

The family of twin girls born after surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital says that one of them was stolen. They suspect she was taken by a woman her father had given her to.

A newborn boy was abducted from the hospital’s gynaecological department last August. The police then arrested the perpetrator and rescued the boy.

The child allegedly abducted on Tuesday was the daughter of Shariful Islam, a truck helper from Kurigram’s Kumarkhali, and Shukhi Begum. The couple currently live in the Kalampur area of Dhaka’s Dhamrai.

The child was born in the morning and stolen in the afternoon, said Md Bachchu Mia, chief of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital Police Outpost.

Shukhi Begum was admitted to the hospital with labour pains on Monday, he said. Her twin daughters were born around 7am on Tuesday after surgery at the gynaecological department.

The incident has been reported to Shahbagh Police Station. The police, with the help of hospital authorities, are trying to identify the abductor by checking the CCTV footage.

Hasina Begum, the child’s grandmother, said that a woman struck up a conversation with her and Shariful around 1:15pm. She spoke of helping them. At one point, Shariful handed one of his daughters to her. The child was with her for some time.

At one point, amid his concern for his wife’s health and running to and fro for errands, he took his eyes off the woman and his daughter. The woman then used the opportunity to go through the Ansar security barricades and leave.

Mizanur Rahman, the platoon commander of the Ansar assigned to the hospital for security, said, “As far as we know, the child’s father handed her over to the suspected woman. The Ansar on duty did not understand that she wasn’t a member of their family.”