Ragpicker Sanatan Mondal in the vat in which he found the dead baby. Picture by Amit Datta

The mutilated body of a newborn girl was found in a garbage vat outside Bijoygarh State General Hospital, in the Jadavpur police station area, on Sunday morning.

“The baby’s left arm and right leg, knee downwards, were severed. There was also a gaping wound in the throat,” said a ragpicker, Sanatan Mondol, who spotted the body in the vat. The body was wrapped in a yellow plastic bag, which Mondol saw a garbage van dump in the vat moments before.

“There are several injury marks on the body. We have to wait for the post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of the death. A probe has been launched to identify the child’s parents,” said a police officer.

According to Mondol, the garbage van dumped the plastic bag in the vat around 8am on Sunday. Probing the bag with his metal spikes, he was shocked to find a baby’s body inside. The van had left by then.

Mondol shooed away the dogs that had gathered around the body and informed the local councillor Shyamali Bhadra, who called the police. A team from Jadavpur police station, led by inspector-in-charge A.C. Sarkar, reached the spot around 9.30am.

“The baby was probably delivered on Saturday night. It’s a case of female infanticide,” said Praveen Kumar, the superintendent of police (South 24-Parganas). “The autopsy report will reveal whether the injuries were inflicted before or after death. We are trying to find out if any girl was born at hospitals or nursing homes in the area in the past 24 hours.”

The police said it was possible that the body was dumped elsewhere and later picked up by the garbage van. They are trying to track down the van. Sleuths have not ruled out the involvement of the driver of the van and his help in the death.