Abandoned baby not our kidnapped son: Couple

On Friday morning, when Pooja and Avdhesh Mishra were called to identify an abandoned baby boy, they prayed he would be their two-month-old son, who was kidnapped from VN Desai hospital in Santacruz by a burqa-clad woman on October 14. Sadaf Modak reports.

On Friday morning, when Pooja and Avdhesh Mishra were called to identify an abandoned baby boy, they prayed he would be their two-month-old son, who was kidnapped from VN Desai hospital in Santacruz by a burqa-clad woman on October 14.

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The couple's hopes were, however, shattered. "He is not our son, Ayush," said 23-year-old Avdhesh. "Our son had some white spots on his back since birth, which this child does not have."

Ayush was kidnapped when Pooja had taken him and his twin, a girl, to the hospital for a polio dose. The burqa-clad woman befriended Ayush's grandmother and took him away on the pretext of taking him to Pooja who was on another floor.

On Thursday, the police found a baby boy abandoned near the Eastern Express Highway. They suspected him to be Ayush and summoned Pooja and Avdhesh to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar.

Doctors had said the abandoned baby was not more than a week old, but the Mishras had hopes. "My wife is yet to come to terms with the loss and Ayush's twin, Kumkum, has also become weak," said Avdhesh.

The police are yet to trace the parents of the abandoned boy who will be shifted to a children's home in Chembur. "The boy was a little weak when he was brought in and was placed under intensive care but he is responding well," said Chandrashekar Sane, medical officer at Rajawadi Hospital.