Health workers lead cops to mother who killed her infant

A day-old baby boy was found dead in a dustbin in Navi Mumbai. Health workers helped identify the mother, who confessed to strangling the baby.

Navi Mumbai: The body of a day-old baby boy was discovered from a public dustbin in Turbhe by police at 10 am on July 17. The cause of the infant’s death would have gone unreported, if not for the agility displayed by the staff of the urban health post (UHP) of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

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Upon extricating the discarded body from the bin, police filed a case under IPC 318 (disposing of a child’s dead body) against an unknown person. However, the postmortem revealed that the baby was strangled to death, following which the police registered a case of murder under IPC section 302. “In our search for the culprit, NMMC health workers and the medical officer from UHP – Dr Kailas Gaikwad -- played crucial roles,” said senior police inspector, Ravindra Daundkar.

Gaikwad and his team of health workers first tried to draw up a list of all expecting mothers in the area and found no woman registered to deliver around that time. The health workers continued to keep a watch over the area and interacted with locals to seek information that might lead them to the culprit. “In the course of the investigation, a citizen shared that he had seen a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy in the area, who was suddenly missing,” said Gaikwad.

On establishing the identity of the woman, 32-year-old Nisha Mohan Dabhade, the team visited her residence. The woman – who showed no signs of pregnancy now – “gave vague reasons to explain the sudden disappearance of her baby bump”. “This made us suspicious and we informed the police. They landed up at her house, while the team of health workers remained outside to ensure she did not try to escape,” said a health worker.

Police interrogation revealed that the woman was not a Navi Mumbai resident (police were unclear about her place of residence) and was living at her relative’s house. She had conceived the baby from an extra marital relationship, and wanted to hide the liaison and the baby from her husband. She also wanted to stay off the neighbours’ radar. “Hence, soon after the delivery, she strangled the baby with the umbilical cord and then discarded the body. She was arrested on July 20 and will be produced in court. She is in judicial custody now,” said Daundkar.