Woman admits to stealing baby from hospital: Police

The woman, who abducted the three-day-old baby from the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, had acted as a pregnant woman for three months inspired by Vidya Balan's 'Kahaani', according to an initial probe by the police.

The arrested woman, Chinmayee Bej, residing with her daughter and husband in the same Bagmari area where the baby's family resided, claimed that it was her baby whom she had given birth to yesterday, a Kolkata Police officer said.

Later, she admitted that she had stolen the baby boy on the pretext of giving him vaccination.

The police officer said, "The woman admitted to the crime. During grilling she said she had a miscarriage earlier after which she struck upon the idea of acting as a pregnant woman because she was deperate to have a boy."

The police said it was not ruling out the angle of enmity between the two families either.

Besides investigating whether Chinmayee got the help of a relative working at the hospital, the police is also looking into if the husband-wife duo had any connection with a child trafficking racket.

Meanwhile, a local court today sent the couple to nine days' police custody.