RAWALPINDI, July 22: The disappearance of a mother from the emergency ward of the Benazir Bhutto Hospital has turned into a conflict as the brother of the woman lodged a complaint with the police against his sister’s husband and in-laws blaming them for negligence.

On the other hand, Arshad Mehmood, the woman’s husband, and his relatives continued searching for his missing wife.

Ms Uzma 22, a resident of Dhoke Kala Khan, had delivered her first baby girl on Sunday evening at BBH but later went missing under mysterious circumstances from the hospital.

“Family and friends launched a door-to-door search in and around the hospital and also at the relatives’ houses. Yet she could not be found till late Monday night and no clues had been found either,” Arshad Mehmood told Dawn.

He said he tried to obtain the CCTV images between 5pm to 6pm of the hospital ward, but they were not available with the hospital management.

“Again, I tried to get the CCTV images today and inquired other patients in the ward about my wife, but all efforts went in vain,” Arshad said.

He added that the baby was born at around 1.30pm on Sunday and was later shifted to the child nursery.

His wife had then gone missing at approximately 5pm when her mother-in-law left the hospital to bring some tea.

“None of the hospital staff or police guards posted at the hospital has come forward to help search for my wife or provide any information which could provide us a clue about her whereabouts,” Arshad said.

The new born baby has been lying in the hospital nursery since her birth as her mother went missing soon after.

The hospital management would decide on Tuesday whether the baby would remain in the hospital or handed over to Arshad since there was nobody available to feed and care for the newborn.

Police investigating officer told Dawn that both the missing woman’s husband and brother had been searching for her but were unable to find her.

He said they had asked the police to wait for some time so that they could decide if a formal FIR (First Information Report) is to be lodged with the police and who is to be held responsible for the disappearance of the woman.