Man arrested for abandoning newborn

A 27-year-old man was arrested for allegedly abandoning a newborn girl in south Delhi R K Khanna Stadium, police said Saturday.

The accused, identified as Sajan Kumar of Sriniwaspuri, works at a pathological lab in Lajpat Nagar, they added.

On October 31, a passerby informed traffic police constables about a newborn baby lying in the bushes and crying. Police rushed to the spot and rescued the baby, a senior police officer said.

During investigation, police team scanned through CCTV footage of the area and checked records of nearby hospitals to find details about the newborns, he said.

Police learnt that a woman visited Safdarjung Hospital and claimed herself to be the mother of the baby, he added.

When police reached at the hospital, they identified the woman claiming to be the mother of the child and documents related to the child was recovered from her possession, the officer said.

On her instance, the accused was arrested, he said.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that around two years ago, he met the woman and they eventually got into a relationship.

The woman later got to know that she was pregnant with his child and abortion was not possible at that stage. So, they decided to give birth to child at a private hospital, Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said.

The baby was born on October 30 at the private hospital in Jeevan Nagar and after getting discharged from the hospital the next day, they reached Arjun Nagar to stay, he said.

Later, the accused assured the woman that he will hand over the baby to his best friend who will take care of the child and they can visit the baby and check on her, he added.

However, instead of handing over the baby to his friend, the accused abandoned the newborn, police said.