A 12-day-old baby boy was "taken away" from Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in northwest Delhi on Friday and was brought back by a couple within six hours after police teams started searching for the missing infant.
For Kartik's parents, nothing could match the joy of seeing their son again after he was "taken away" from the hospital where he was born.
The child was taken away by a woman when Kartik's mother went to the washroom around 5.52 am, the infant's father Sunil Upadhyay alleged.
He said, "I got a call from my wife that our son has been kidnapped. When I reached the hospital and asked them (authorities) to show me the CCTV footage they initially didn't relent but when I threatened about calling media, they agreed. They were initially skeptical about informing police."
The couple that had taken the child away brought him back to the hospital around 11.30 am after they got to know that police was investigating the matter, police said.
"They panicked after hearing that police teams are looking for the child. They are currently detained and we are questioning them to know why they had taken the child away," DCP(Northwest) Milind Dumbere said, adding since it was a sensitive matter, many teams were formed to find the baby.
Police said the couple who had taken the child has three daughters. They have twin daughters and the woman had recently given birth to another girl child. They wanted a son, which is why they might have kidnapped the infant, police said.
The couple stays at Shahbad Dairy and had taken the infant to their home.
The child was born on October 22 at the hospital. Since he developed some infection, he was kept at the hospital.
Mr Upadhyay also alleged that the hospital authorities didn't allow any family members apart from the child's mother to stay with the infant.
"The security guard didn't allow any local guardian apart from the mother to stay with the child," he said.
He said that since the child wasn't well, they hadn't even formally named him. "We have thought of the name Kartik for him. After the incident, I brought my child and wife home," he said.
Meanwhile, the hospital authorities said that they were quite prompt in informing the police about the incident.
Dr Surender Pal, Medical Superintendent of Babu Jagjivan Ram hospital said, "The allegations of the parents are baseless. After the mother raised an alarm about her baby being not in the ward, we alerted the security and also informed the police."
