Cuttack, March 8: A one-day-old infant born at SCB Medical College and Hospital was allegedly stolen by an unidentified woman today.

The woman had identified herself as an accredited social health activist (Asha worker) and tricked the infant's gullible father and aunt into giving the male child to her care.

Later, she vanished into the crowd on the hospital premises.

The incident occurred around 2pm. Pabitra Patra, father of the allegedly stolen infant, lodged a complaint at Manglabag police station.

The police said Pabitra of Kankadahad in Dhenkanal district had visited the hospital, along with his wife Pushpa and sister-in-law Hara.

Pushpa gave birth to a male child yesterday at the gynaecology and obstetric department. As Pushpa had developed some post-delivery complications, she was under treatment.

According to the complaint, Pabitra and Hara had taken the infant to the nearby immunisation centre of the hospital in the afternoon. When they were returning after getting the infant vaccinated, an unknown woman had volunteered to help them get baby food and medicines.

Wearing a white sari with blue border, the woman, in her 30s, posed to be an accredited social health activist. After winning their confidence, she had taken the newborn from them. Later, she had taken both Pabitra and Hara around the hospital and outside the campus to buy baby food.

"According to the complaint, the unknown woman had been with them for more than an hour, and during this time, the infant was with her. But the duo did not comprehend when she separated herself from them and vanished into the crowd," Manglabag police station in-charge Arun Kumar Swain told The Telegraph.

"We have registered a case and started investigation. We are trying to get hold of the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footages from various locations in the hospital to get a possible clue about the unknown woman," Swain said.

The police said this was the first-of-its-kind incident reported from the hospital.