IPOH, July 10 — A debt-ridden couple from Tanjung Tualang, about 30km from here, claimed their eight-month-old baby has been taken away from them after they handed him to a neighbour’s friend in exchange for a RM3,500 loan.

R. Nages Rao, 42, and K. Kanagavalli, 31, claimed that they handed over their son, Sai Karthi, to Nurhidayu Badrol Hisham, of Puchong, Selangor, for a “previously agreed upon period of two days” on May 15 but have yet to be reunited with the child.

They had borrowed the money to pay off express bus driver Nages Rao’s unpaid traffic summonses totalling RM2,800, which he had accumulated over a year. 

The couple decided to borrow RM3,500 from Nurhidayu, who they had never met but trusted because of her close relationship with their neighbour, identified only as Rani.

“After lending us the money, Nurhidayu said she wanted to take care of our son for two days as a gesture of love and trust, saying she was taken by his cuteness” said Kanagavalli at a press conference called by Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam yesterday.

“But she failed to return Sai Karthi to us. When Rani contacted her, she said she would not return him until we repay her money in full.”

Kanagavalli said she and her husband had signed a written agreement with Nurhidayu and it was witnessed by a police inspector at the Malim Nawar police station.

“We agreed verbally that she was to return our child in two days but we were unsure what was written in the agreement. We trusted her as we were desperate,” she said.

She has lodged a report at the Malim Nawar police station.

Kanagavalli, who has four older children aged between one and 15, said he feared Nurhidayu would take custody of her son and adopt him as her own child.

“After lodging the report, I spoke to Nurhidayu’s father-in-law, who they call ‘Puteh’. He said Norhidayu had already changed my son’s name in his birth certificate, but I have no idea if this is true,” she said.