Pretended to be nine-months pregnant for gold and cash; couple arrested in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A couple who cheated their relatives by pretending to be pregnant and then fleeing, have been arrested by the police. The woman and her husband played a play together to settle a dispute with her own mother and to steal her mother-in-law's gold. The couple from Parakode in Chempazhanthi, Thiruvananthapuram, and their five-year-old son were taken into custody by the Kazhakoottam police yesterday. They were found from Tamil Nadu.

The drama came to light after questioning the couple. The couple and their son had been missing since June 17. They informed their relatives that they were leaving the home for pregnancy-related treatment and due to the distress caused by the abortion.

To mend her strained relationship with her mother, the woman told her that she was pregnant. Believing it, the woman reconciled with her own daughter and even provided financial support. The woman convinced others that she was pregnant by tying cloth around her waist to fake a baby bump.

After completing nine months last month, the couple had convinced their relatives that they were undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kazhakoottam and informed them later that the baby had died during childbirth. In the meantime, the relatives were about to file a complaint with the police, alleging that the baby died due to medical negligence. This is how the couple's pregnancy drama collapsed.

The couple, fearing that the truth would come out if the relatives approached the police with a complaint, left home with their son. They went into hiding after turning off their mobile phones. However, the police were able to trace them when the couple switched on their mobile phones to use social media.

The police tracked their location with the help of the cyber cell. The couple and their son, who were taken into custody in Tamil Nadu, were produced in the court and later released as there were no criminal charges against them.