MARGAO: Margao Town police arrested Natalia Almeida for kidnapping a one-month-old baby girl from the railway station area in Margao. The child belongs to a couple living on the footpath near the railway station. The police have registered the offence under Section 363 of the IPC.
According to Margao police, 52-year-old Almeida allegedly abducted the infant after the mother refused to sell the baby to her.
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The police revealed that Almeida, who had developed a rapport with the couple by dropping by to meet them and offering them food, had been pressuring them to relinquish their one-month-old daughter
to her. She even offered them a sum of Rs four lakh for the infant, but the couple declined her proposal.
Frustrated by the couple’s refusal, two days ago, while the mother and baby were sleeping on the footpath near the station road, Almeida quietly took the baby without the mother’s knowledge and vanished, said the police. The couple desperately searched for their baby, and when they could not locate her, the mother reported the incident to Margao police, providing them with details of the ‘charitable’ woman.
The Margao police launched an investigation and by tracking her mobile phone, traced Almeida’s location to Goa Velha, where she is originally from. However, upon reaching Agasaim, they were informed that she had relocated to Aquem-Baixo.
The police team then located Almeida in Navelim, where she was found in possession of the baby. Almeida was brought to the police station for questioning, and the baby was returned to her mother. After completing legal formalities, the mother and baby were taken to Apna Ghar.
On Tuesday night, Margao police said that Almeida had undergone a medical examination at the South Goa District Hospital in Margao, and the report is awaited.
