Patna, May 24: A baby boy born to a single mother at a nursing home in Kankerbagh has been recovered from the home of a wealthy business family in the city.

Police have detained three members of the staff at the nursing home on suspicion of stealing the infant and selling to a childless couple living in the Gaighat area. The nursing home staff passed on the baby to the canteen manager of a private hospital, Basudev Singh, who has been arrested, said traffic SP Chandrika Prasad, who is holding the additional post of Patna City SP.

The three persons on the nursing home’s rolls — a nurse, a compounder and another official — are absconding.

The alleged theft took place on May 21. The incident came to light today when the father of the 26-year- old woman lodged a complaint with the Kankerbagh police station.

Kamal Ram, the girl’s father, a rickshaw-puller from Kobil village in Nalanda, alleged his daughter delivered the baby around 9.30pm on May 21, but the nursing home staff told him that the infant was dead.

Ram spoke to his daughter the next day and got the shock of his life.

“My daughter told me that she was in her senses when the baby was being delivered and that she had seen him alive and crying. I asked the hospital staff about it but the doctors and nurses didn’t believe me. Today, I got restless and a patient told me to go to the police station and lodge a complaint,” Ram said.

Calls made by The Telegraph to the nursing home were repeatedly disconnected all through the day today.

The police said that once the complaint was lodged, they acted immediately.

“During our investigations, we found that the nursing home couldn’t produce the body of the infant. Finally, a nurse who was present during the delivery accepted the fact that the baby was alive. The nurse led the police to the household and the infant was recovered,” traffic SP Prasad said.

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said the nursing home compounder took away the baby on the night of May 21 and passed it on to Basudev Singh, the canteen manager of the private hospital.

“The next morning, Singh handed over the infant to the family in Patna City,” the police officer said.