Bhubaneswar, March 11: A two-month-old baby girl was allegedly kidnapped from Bhubaneswar railway station, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said today.

Though the alleged abduction took place on March 8, the incident came to light after the mother of the girl child, a native of Karnataka, lodged an FIR with the Government Railway Police, Bhubaneswar, yesterday.

The police said Anita Rathod, 20, a resident of Bijapur in Karnataka, had reached the city with her girl child by Prasanti Express on March 8.

“The girl’s mother said she had left her daughter alone for a few minutes on platform No. 4 to go to a nearby kiosk for buying biscuits. When she returned, the baby was not there,” said inspector in charge of the GRP, Bhubaneswar, Saubhagya Kumar Swain.

A missing report was filed with the GRP on the same day. But yesterday, the case was converted into a kidnapping case after Anita had lodged the FIR.

The GRP, Bhubaneswar today sent a team of officials to Angul for investigation. The police said some of the eyewitnesses told them that they had seen an old man taking the baby with him.

“Investigation revealed that Anita had left her daughter alone on the platform for around half an hour. The old man might have taken the baby thinking that she had been abandoned by her parents,” said a police officer.

A case under section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered with the GRP, Bhubaneswar.

Anita married to Muna Sahu, 25, a native of Angul, four years ago. Both of them used to work in a biscuit factory in Bangalore, and the couple also have a two-year-old son. Later, both of them moved to Gujarat to work in a cosmetics factory.

A police official said the family had earlier gone to Angul in January, but Muna’s family refused to accept Anita, raising objections with regard to her caste. While Muna and his son stayed in Angul, Anita was sent back and asked to return with her caste certificate.

“Anita told us that her husband did not protest and he decided to keep their son with him,” said a police officer.

In a similar incident in October 2012, two youths had taken away a three-year-old boy from Bhubaneswar railway station while his mother Saraswati Sahoo of Betasara village in Angul district was sleeping nearby.

Later, the police had arrested a woman from Nischintakoili in Cuttack district in this connection and rescued the baby.