KOCHI: The police team probing the incident in which a baby girl had been found abandoned near Kalamassery has taken one person into custody.
Officials identified him as Ebin Jose, who allegedly attempted to abandon the baby after receiving a contract of ₹40,000. The police are yet to trace her parents, who are presumed to have gone into hiding.
Ebin had posed as a good samaritan and handed over the one-week-old baby on the night of April 13 to child welfare services. In fact, he had taken the infant from the accused to abandon her for him after accepting money.
Ebin, who had called up Janaseva Sisubhavan to report the incident, was taken into custody by the Aluva police after they found that the man had reportedly taken the baby from another person.
Sources said the fact that the baby’s mother was a minor had prompted the couple to abandon her. The infant is now under the care of a shelter home in Ernakulam. “Once the couple is traced, the father will be charged with rape if the mother is found underage,” said police.
Ebin had told Janaseva Sisubhavan that the baby was found wrapped in clothes and was lying by the roadside around 9 p.m. on the said day. Sisubhavan later took the infant to a hospital for a detailed check-up.
