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A crowd gathers at Kapali Ghat in Sonari on Thursday. Picture by Bhola Prasad
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A six-month-old girl, wearing what seemed like a new frock, was found dead along Marine Drive near Subernarekha’s Kapali Ghat in Sonari on Thursday morning.
A youth bathing in the river first spotted the infant’s body at 8am and raised an alarm. A team from Sonari police station came and recovered it around 8.30am.
Sub-inspector Sanjiv Kumar, who conducted a preliminary probe, said the case was unusual. “Usually, illegitimate babies are dumped. But this is not a newborn, which makes us suspect a crime angle. The case will be clearer when the baby is identified,” he said.
Though she is yet to be identified, sources said she seemed from a “good family”. There are no signs of external injury. It is suspected she died after someone dumped her.
Though the area where the body was found has many slums nearby, no one reportedly saw anything.
“The spot where the baby’s body was found is isolated but the place is not. Many of us always keep sit along Marine Drive till late in the night. In the morning, people bathe here. No one saw any person drop the body or anything suspicious,” said Subodh Kalindi, a slum-dweller.
His neighbour Sadanand Mahali said the body could not have been left untouched for a long time. “Had it been dropped at night, stray dogs would have mauled it. As the body bore no signs of injury or attack, someone must have dumped it in the wee hours of Thursday morning,” Mahali said.
The body has been sent for autopsy to MGM Medical College and Hospital. The police have registered a case of unnatural death.
The unlit Marine Drive along the Subernarekha stretch has become a dumping yard for bodies. With this infant, at least 10 bodies have been recovered from here since the road was built in 2007.
Do you suspect a kidnap motive behind the death?
Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com
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