JAJPUR: Police on Sunday arrested a 20-year-old woman for allegedly feeding poison-laced food to her neighbour’s baby at Bhuban Badamalasahi village in Dharmasala here. Police identified the accused as Madhusmita Mohanty.
Police said the baby boy’s father Himanshu Sekhar Mohanty and mother are professionals who go to work every morning. For the past couple of months, they used to hand over their 18-month-old boy to their neighbour Madhusmita before leaving for work. After returning home in the evening, they picked up the baby from the woman’s house.
In the evening of September 15, the couple picked up their baby from Madhusmita’s house and went home. However, the kid suddenly fell ill and was rushed to Dharmasala community health centre. He was later shifted to Sishu Bhawan in Cuttack after his condition deteriorated.
Subsequently, Himanshu lodged a complaint with Dharmasala police alleging that his son became sick due to consumption of poison-laced food. He suspected Madhusmita’s hand in the incident.
Basing on the complaint, police registered a case and picked up Madhusmita and her parents for questioning on Saturday night. After interrogation, police arrested the accused woman and produced her in court. Madhusmita was remanded in judicial custody after her bail plea was rejected, said Dharmasala IIC Ranjan Kumar Majhi.