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A newborn baby who had gone missing from a hospital in Mizoram’s Lunglei on Sunday morning has been rescued and safely returned to its mother.

Lunglei SP Stephen Lalrinawma on Monday said the four-day-old baby boy was rescued from a 40-year-old woman from her temporary residence at Farm Veng neighbourhood in Lunglei around 10:30 pm on Sunday.

The woman identified as Vanlalnghaki, a resident of Tlabung town in Lunglei district, confessed to police that she had taken away the child.

“She has been booked under section 363 of the IPC. The baby has been returned to its mother,” he added.

The child was sleeping with the woman when police rescued him.

The newborn was stolen from the hospital on Sunday morning by the woman disguised as a staff nurse on the pretext that the baby needed to be put in Special Newborn Care Unit and would be returned after an hour.

The accused told police that her desperate want for a child compelled her to abduct the newborn.

She further told police that she had a miscarriage at the same hospital and feeling ashamed of going home without a baby, she decided to steal someone’s baby.