A woman has been arrested from Laxmipur in Siraha district after police found that she had bought a stolen child. 

Lila Devi Sah of Siraha’s Laxmipur Patair Rural Municipality has been accused of buying the seven-month-old baby boy, Shubham, who was stolen from Kamala Municipality-3 in Dhanusha district 18 days ago. 

District Police Office in Dhanusha rescued Shubham from Lila Devi’s house in Laxmipur with the help of Siraha police and handed him over to his mother, Sunita Devi Yadav, on Sunday. 

Police also arrested Radhakrishna Mandal of Kamala-2 and Dilip Kumar Mandal of Siraha Municipality-10 for stealing and selling the baby. 

The duo was made public along with Lila Devi in a press meet on Sunday.

Police said two other suspects, Birendra Yadav of Kamala-3 and Bala Pasawan of Bideha in Dhanusha, are on the run. 

Shubham was stolen on September 28 midnight when Sunita Devi was asleep.  

Superintendent of Police Chakra Bahadur Singh said Sunita Devi’s neighbour, Birendra Yadav, had stolen the baby as Dilip Kumar had promised to pay him Rs 250,000.

Lila Devi had paid Rs 600,000 to Dilip for the baby, SP Singh added. She already has three girls and wanted to have a baby boy.

Police are preparing to charge the suspects with hostage taking and human trafficking.