Keonjhar: A 25-year-old woman has allegedly sold her newborn male child for Rs 1,000 to a couple, who had longed for a male progeny.

The baby's mother from Ganishaka village under Banshapala block was incidentally deserted by her spouse sometime ago. She delivered a male child on Tuesday at Keonjhar district headquarters hospital and allegedly handed over the child to a couple in the township here on Wednesday. As the woman's husband had deserted her, she was apprehensive of upkeep of the newborn and decided to give away the child to a couple against monetary consideration, it was alleged.

"After we received an anonymous telephone call, we rushed to the couple's house and rescued the infant on Thursday. The child, who has got enfeebled due to lack of breastfeeding, was later admitted at the childcare unit of the headquarters hospital," said district child protection officer Debangana Barik.

"The department has lodged a police complaint in this connection. The child welfare committee has now become the custodian of the baby as the impoverished mother has unwillingness to take the child back.

"The woman has told us that she had given away her offspring to the couple as she does not have income to bring up the child. The couple, who illegally adopted the male child, had a two-year-old daughter from the wedlock," she said.

"The alleged child sale episode has come to our notice. However on receipt of complaint, the health department has formed a committee to probe the matter. The alleged connivance of a staff nurse is also being investigated," said chief district medical officer Swapneswar Gaganayak. The mother and the baby have now been shifted to maternity and child care centre of the district headquarters hospital. "She would be subjected to counselling," he said.

"The administration is covering the destitute woman under government-sponsored social security schemes. Steps are also being taken to shift the mother-son duo to a short-stay home," said the District Rural Development Agency's project director Nrusingha Charan Swain.

Body found

The body of a 70-year-old woman was retrieved from near the Luna riverbed at Subala village in Kendrapara. The deceased has been identified as Hemalata Panda. The body has been sent for post-mortem, police said.