DNA test undertaken to identify mother of unclaimed baby girl

The blood samples were collected in the presence of High Court Vigilance Registrar P K Das and superintendent D N Moharana at the SCB Medical College and Hospital.

The samples would be sent to Hyderabad for DNA tests, the report of which will be available after three months.

Alleging that there had been a baby swap, one Susanta Mallick of Cuttack had claimed that his wife Rashmita had delivered a baby boy on March 30 at the hospital and had refused to accept the baby girl they were handed by authorities.

Another woman Nirupama Mallick wife of Sukanta Mallick of Jajpur district had also delivered a baby boy almost around the same time at the hospital.

The suspicion that the babies might have been swapped arose since after deliveries both the babies were put on the same bed, while both the mothers shared the same surname and their husbands' names were phonetically similar.

To clear doubts, the High Court had directed last month for a DNA test of both the babies and the two women for establishing the mother of the baby girl, who is being taken care of by nurses at the hospital. PTI Corr SKN PC RAI