Three days after a baby was found on the back seat of a rickshaw near Vasai Bus Depot, the Vasai police have failed to make any headway in the incident.
An infant, believed to be eight to ten days old, wrapped in a blanket, was found abandoned in an auto- rickshaw at Vasai bus depot on September 4. The baby was handed over to the police.
On Sunday, Sunil Dilip Bhil, an auto driver from Virar (East) said, “A friend and I had gone to receive his parents at Vasai bus depot. I parked my auto at the near the depot, and both of us went to search for his parents,” he said. “When we returned, I was shocked. There was this little bundle wrapped up in the back seat of my auto. When I looked carefully, it was a baby. I got scared, as I did not know if the baby was alive or dead.”
ADVERTISEMENT
After the initial shock subsided, Bhil decided to hand the baby to the police. “I asked around for the nearest chowky, and handed over the baby to them,” says Bhil.
Sub Inspector Archana Koli of Manikpur Police Station, Vasai said the baby was brought to the police by an auto driver.
“We registered a case against unknown persons,” said Koli. “We have gone through some of the CCTV footage of the area, like [from] the depot etc, but nothing has come of it. The images are very unclear. So, we are getting no leads from this footage. But our investigations are on,” said Koli on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The baby was initially sent to the government hospital at Vasai, to check her medical condition and then referred to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital, Kandivali (West). The infant was then sent temporarily to Janani Samaj Sewa Mandal, Dombivali, where she will be kept till Friday.
Subsequently, in accordance with the guidelines on abandoned babies, issued by Central Adoption Resource Authority under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the baby will be brought before the Child Welfare Committee, after which she will be shifted to a children’s home at Ulhasnagar, said a source.
The author is a freelance journalist