In a heart-rending incident, a woman money-lender snatched a two-year-old baby boy from his parents, as they failed to repay the loan in Tumkur, 76 kilometres from Bangalore , and held the infant captive for nearly one year before the police rescued him on Saturday. The woman had chained the baby and left him on the floor.According to the Tumkur police, Mumtaz and her daughter Rihana were in the business of lending money at exorbitant interest rates to families from below poverty line (BPL) category. They often used muscle power to recover the principal and the compound interest from the borrowers.Two years ago, Stephan, a construction labourer, borrowed Rs 10,000 from Mumtaz for his emergency needs. But he failed to repay the principal amount in time. By the 18th month, the principal amount and the interest had shot up and Mumtaz demanded Rs 50,000 from Stephan."Mumtaz then used local rowdies to threaten Stephan, who was still unable to return the amount. One night, she barged into his house and snatched the one-year-old infant from the family. The rowdies beat up Stephan and threatened him against approaching us. She told Stephan that she would keep the baby as surety till he paid her Rs 50,000," the police added.When the neighbours of Mumtaz became suspicious about the baby, as the two women were neglecting him, they brought the matter to the notice of the police. On Saturday, when the police visited Mumtaz, she tried to mislead them by claiming that she had adopted the baby. But she failed to provide the adoption documents when asked."Besides, we were horrified to find that the baby was chained and left on the floor with a food plate. It was a disgusting sight. The baby is highly malnourished. We have arrested both Mumtaz and Rihana. The baby is now in the care of the department of women and child welfare as he needs immediate medical attention. He will be treated for malnourishment and then handed over to Stephan," the police added.Reyaz, husband of Mumtaz, who was at home when the police visited them, escaped from the scene to evade arrest.Stephan was in tears when he saw his son in a fragile condition. "I had borrowed the money to treat my wife's illness. I had asked for more time from Mumtaz to return the principal amount. But she kept on hiking the interest deliberately. After she kidnapped my son, I approached her several times asking her to return the child on humanitarian grounds, but she threatened me every time," he alleged.According to Dr. Ashwini S, who is attending to the baby, the infant has suffered from lack of attention, care and affection. "He has not developed like a normal child because of lack of parental care. He needs special attention and care, including medical intervention," she said.