For nine months, 27-year-old Pooja Devi carried out an elaborate deception. She convinced her husband, her in-laws, and her own family that she was pregnant. She even moved back to her parents’ house in Malviya Nagar, claiming she was nearing delivery.
But the charade unravelled on Tuesday, when she stole a day-old infant from the maternity ward of Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital — a baby girl she intended to pass off as her own.
Police said Devi did not use a prosthetic belly to feign pregnancy. Her natural physique, investigators said, was “healthy enough” for her to appear visibly pregnant.
What gave her away, however, was her suspicious behaviour inside the hospital. She was caught on CCTV footage loitering near the neonatal and postnatal care wards, speaking to several women, and keeping her face partially covered with a dupatta.
She was arrested within hours, and the infant safely reunited with her family.
According to deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Chaudhary, the child was born to a couple living in Yashwant Place, Chanakyapuri, on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, while the mother was in postnatal care in Ward No. 5, she stepped out to get milk. When she returned, her daughter had vanished.
“However, at around 3.15pm on Tuesday, their child went missing and even after looking for her everywhere, they couldn’t find her,” DCP Chaudhary said.
A case of kidnapping under section 137(2) of the BNS was registered around 4pm, and police began reviewing CCTV footage from the hospital.
The footage showed Devi interacting with multiple patients and lingering inside the ward where the baby was taken. She had partially concealed her identity but was clearly visible enough for police to identify her movements. “She had partially covered her face with a dupatta,” Chaudhary said.
After leaving the hospital, Devi tried to cover her tracks. She boarded a Metro at AIIMS station, headed toward Samaypur Badli, then changed routes at INA to head toward Millennium City Centre, finally exiting at Hauz Khas and making her way toward Panchsheel flyover.
“Eventually, she was spotted in an autorickshaw. We checked the registration numbers and ownership of more than 20 autorickshaws as the registration number was not clear in the footage,” the DCP said.
Eventually, police zeroed in on the autorickshaw and the driver told them he dropped the woman in Malviya Nagar.
When police raided the location, they found Devi in a house with the stolen infant. The baby was recovered unharmed and returned to her family.
During questioning, Devi told investigators that she had been married for seven years to Pinku Kumar, a daily-wage labourer in Faridabad, and had been unable to conceive. Though her husband had never pressured her, she said she had begun to feel a deep societal and emotional burden. Roughly eight months ago, she told her family and in-laws that she was pregnant.
To maintain the illusion, she left her marital home days before the theft and moved to her parents’ house, claiming her due date was near. On Monday, she left home saying she was being admitted to Safdarjung Hospital for delivery. On Tuesday, she returned — carrying the stolen infant.
Her husband, police said, was unaware of the entire scheme.
“She was driven by desperation and the pressure to become a mother in the eyes of her family and society,” said an officer. “But the act she committed was not only criminal — it could have endangered the life of the child.”
