Homeless man arrested for burying newborn daughter’s body

A balloon vendor in Mumbai was arrested for burying his nine-day-old daughter's body in a vacant plot. The baby had died of natural causes.

MUMBAI: A balloon vendor was arrested on Thursday for allegedly burying the body of his nine-day-old daughter in a vacant plot in Kandivali West on Tuesday.

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After a passerby noticed suspicious activity at the plot and alerted the police, the newborn’s body was found buried in a pit. Police scanned through CCTV footage and tracked down the accused, who lives on the pavement and sells balloons across the northern suburbs.

“The post-mortem report stated that the baby had died of natural causes. We later found that her parents buried her without informing anyone,” said Shailendra Dhivar, assistant commissioner of police (Kandivali).

The police were alerted by Dinesh Pashte, 34, a signboard painter, who saw the couple digging a pit in the vacant plot on Tuesday. Pashte, who stays in Charkop, said that on Tuesday at 10:40am he saw a couple in the vacant space behind the nursery.

The man was seen carrying a white bundle on his shoulder and the couple sneaked into the nursery. “I tried following them, but the couple ventured inside the bushes. At 11:10am the couple came out but the man did not have anything on his shoulder,” said Pashte.

After informing the nursery owner, Pashte hurried off to work. Later that night, upon his return, Pashte inquired with the nursery owner, only to learn that the couple hadn’t been seen. However, when Pashte and his friend accompanied the nursery owner back to the site, they found something buried there, raising suspicion. “On a hunch, we contacted the police at 12:30am on Wednesday,” Pashte stated in his statement.

Upon reaching the spot, the police unearthed the body of a newborn girl wrapped in a white cloth.

The body was sent to Shatabdi Hospital, and based on Pashte’s complaint, the Charkop police registered an FIR against the couple under sections 318 (secretly burying or disposing dead body of a child) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.