The Delhi Police have inched closer towards identifying the parents of the two-year-old badly battered girl admitted to the intensive care unit of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences' Trauma Centre.
“We have identified the woman who had handed over the child to Raj Kumar through his friend,” said a police officer on Monday. The woman named Lakshmi is a resident of Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar.
She told the police that last September one Munni approached her seeking a job. “She worked at Lakshmi's rented accommodation for some time and one day she came with a baby girl and handed it over to Lakshmi saying that she could not take care of it. Munni soon vanished from the scene. Lakshmi did not have her address,” said the officer.
When it became difficult for Lakshmi, a mother of four children, to take care of the baby she started looking for someone who would adopt it. She narrated her woes to a neighbour, Manoj, who suggested that one of his friends, Raj Kumar, could be interested in adopting the baby girl.
“This is how the child landed in Raj Kumar's hands. We are in contact with Lakshmi and have now recorded her statement. Based on the findings so far, we believe that the baby belongs to Munni. However, Lakshmi has no idea on her whereabouts. Efforts are now being made to trace the woman who had identified herself as Munni to Lakshmi,” said the officer.
The police on Monday released the photograph of Raj Kumar, who has gone underground since the story on the brutal assault on the baby girl broke out. Initially he was willing to cooperate in the investigations, but went missing after one of his friends dissuaded him.
Investigations have revealed that after adopting the child, Raj Kumar took her to his wife who lives in Dwarka. However, she refused to take care of the baby stating that the couple already had a child and there was no need to adopt another. “Their own child lives with Raj Kumar's in-laws in Mumbai,” said an officer.
Raj Kumar then handed over the baby to the 14-year-old girl, with whom he had been living at a guesthouse in Mahipalpur. When he received information about his own son's illness, Raj Kumar left for Mumbai on January 12-13, lying to the teenaged girl that he was going to his father's place.
The police are now trying to ascertain if the injuries were inflicted on the child before or after he left Delhi. They would also seek a medical opinion on the nature and timing of the injuries. The condition of the baby continues to be critical.
