Newborn girl abandoned with apology note in Panvel: Father detained in Bhiwandi

The Navi Mumbai Police have detained the father of a newborn girl who was found abandoned in a basket on a footpath in Panvel on Saturday, alongside a heartbreaking handwritten note in which the parents had apologised for giving her up, citing financial conditions, news agency PTI reported.

The accused, a resident of Bhiwandi in Thane district, was traced within 24 hours by the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch. He has been handed over to Panvel Town Police for further investigation. The police are now working to trace the child’s mother.

According to investigators, the baby was born to an unwed couple, reported PTI. Though the parents had allegedly planned to leave the child at an orphanage in Panvel, they instead left her in a blue basket opposite Swapnalay Girls’ Hostel in Takka.

A morning walker discovered the infant, wrapped in a clean cloth, around 5.30 am on Saturday after hearing faint cries. Local residents Renu Jha and Abhijeet Bhoir, an employee with Panvel Municipal Corporation, rushed the baby to Siddhi Clinic & Nursing Home.

Doctors said the baby was approximately 48 hours old, underweight but stable, with no visible injuries. “She is active, though underweight,” a medical officer confirmed.

What stunned both locals and police was a letter found beside the infant, allegedly written by her mother in English. It read: “We are really sorry that we had to do this. We have no other option. We can’t manage anything for this baby mentally and financially. Please don’t involve anybody or escalate the matter. We don’t want her to face what we have faced. We plead with you to keep her safe. I hope we take her back one day as we are near her. We are sorry.”

“The baby was lying there like she didn’t matter to anyone. How could anyone leave their own child like this?” said Jha, who carried the child to the hospital.

Panvel City Police initially registered a case under Section 317 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with the abandonment of a child by a parent. A second case was later registered under Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for exposing and abandoning a child under twelve years of age.

With no eyewitnesses, multiple teams of Navi Mumbai Police launched a parallel investigation into the case. CCTV footage and technical surveillance helped them identify the vehicle in which the baby had been brought, leading them to her father.

Senior Police Inspector Nitin Thakare said further inquiry is underway to establish the full circumstances of the abandonment and the identity and whereabouts of the child’s mother. 

Authorities have assured that the baby is safe and under medical supervision, reported PTI.

(With PTI inputs)

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