Upset with birth of daughter, woman steals landlord's 5-month-old boy in Cox's Bazar

Ankhi Akter Mim had longed for a son. Her husband already had two daughters with his first wife.

But Ankhi hoped that when she was finally with child, the newborn would be a son.

When she gave birth to a daughter, however, Ankhi decided to take matters into her own hands. 

Entangled with a desire to present her husband with a son, she decided to give away her daughter to someone else. 

Leaving her in-laws' house in the Tankrishnapur area of Kishoreganj, Ankhi made a deal with one Syed Hossain from Cox's Bazar's Ramu upazila. 

Pretending to be a couple, Ankhi and Syed Hossain rented a house in the Banglabazar area in Cox's Bazar Sadar upazila.

They built a relationship with the landlord's family and grew fond of their five-month-old baby boy, Sifat, in a span of seven days. 

On 31 December, Ankhi and Syed fled the house, taking Sifat with them.

Police recovered the baby boy and arrested Ankhi from Bhairab upazila of Kishoreganj, on 10 January, said Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Mahfuzul Islam at a press conference today (January 11). 

Mahfuzul said police interrogated Syed's brother, Syed Kashem, after the family of the abducted child filed a case with Cox's Bazar Sadar Thana.

Based on the information obtained from Kashem, police arrested Syed Hossain from the Panchlaish area of Chattogram on 8 January, who later helped police with information to arrest Akhi and recover the child.