Life of seven-day-old baby could have been saved had the police caught the kidnapper Manjula within 10 to 12 hours of abduction.
It is not yet clear – even Manjula was not sure – when exactly the baby died. All that she said was the baby died some time late on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday.
After she abducted the baby boy from Niloufer Hospital in Nampally having befriended his grandmother Kalpana on Sunday, she reached Bandhonipalli village in Nagarkurnool district, nearly 90 km away from Hyderabad, by evening.
“The baby would have survived had she taken him to a doctor. She failed to notice that the new-born baby’s condition was deteriorating,” investigators said on Wednesday. Actually, the baby was taken to Niloufer hospital since he had developed complications.
Manjula didn’t realise the baby was in serious condition, the police said. “In the night, I realised the infant’s abdomen was becoming hard. I pressed his abdomen with my hand. Some watery liquid came out of his mouth,” she was quotedby the investigators.
Later, Manjula too fell asleep. In the early hours of Monday, she realised the baby was died. Had the baby been rescued or the kidnapper caught by Sunday evening, chances of the baby’s survival would have been more was what the police felt.
A revelation made by her startled everyone. The baby was born in Petlaburz Government Hospital on Friday. As he showed signs of illness, doctors suggested that the baby be shifted to Niloufer hospital.
Since his mother Nirmala was still in the hospital recovering after the delivery, her mother Kalpana (the baby’s maternal grandmother) took him to Niloufer hospital on Sunday.
