Police on Monday traced the woman who took a boy instead of her baby girl from the Government Maternity Hospital in Hyderabad.

The police restored the boy to his parents, Latha and Janga Reddy, at the Charminar police station.

The girl was handed over to her parents, Mehmoodabi and Nazeer Ahmed.

"We are sending the DNA samples of the two babies and their parents to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics for final confirmation," Additional Commissioner of Police A K Khan said. "Nobody has been arrested in the case, but lot of questions remain to be answered. We will be doing enquiries."

It took the police nearly three weeks to solve the case. They had tracked down 20 out of the 44 boys born in the hospital between April 16 and 21, and sent four for DNA tests.

The police questioned 21 suspects, including two nurses, a ward boy and a clerk of the maternity hospital.

"For many days our teams were conducting searches to trace the prime suspect... Our teams zeroed in on Mehmoodabi, who had given birth to a girl in the hospital on April 16, but disappeared without informing the hospital staff," Khan said. "Mehmoodabi was traced to Akberbagh in Malakpet area in the city."

Police teams contacted Mehmoodabi's neighbours and relatives and enquired about her. On Sunday, Mehmoodabi was brought to the station for questioning. "She had initially stated that she had given birth to a baby girl, but subsequently claimed there was some confusion in the hospital when she was handed over a boy," Khan said.

Latha and Janga Reddy offered prayers at the Bhagyalakshmi Temple at Charminar and distributed sweets at the deputy commissioner of police's office. "Our ordeal has ended after 25 days. We have taken the baby boy. We will wait for confirmation," Janga Reddy said.

Mehmoodabi said, "I don't know how it happened. I took away the child that was handed to me by the hospital staff. I am happy now to get back my baby girl."

Meanwhile, a girl of another swapping case is in serious condition in the same hospital.

A couple, Jagiri Rajaiah and Jagiri Rajeshwari, lodged a complaint with the police on May 10 that their boy, born in a private maternity home, was swapped with a girl.

Soon after the delivery, the boy, who was underweight, was shifted to another private hospital to be kept in an incubator. After four days, the hospital staff handed over a girl to Rajeshwari on May 10.

On Rajeshwari's complaint, the police registered a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 479 (property mark) of the Indian Penal Code against the hospital management.

The girl was sent to the Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad for DNA tests, where her condition became serious.

"The seven-day-old baby is extremely underweight. She has an infection and early sepsis. She is suffering from chest pain and diarrhoea," Niloufer Hospital superintendent Dr N C K Reddy said. "We won't go in for DNA test for the baby girl till her health improves."