ROURKELA: A newborn boy was rescued in a critical condition from a garbage heap near a drain in Sheetalpada slum under Uditnagar police limits on Saturday morning.
Locals reportedly spotted the baby on Saturday morning, rescued him and informed the police. Investigation revealed that the baby had been dumped on a garbage heap beside a swollen drain.
Police suspect that the person who abandoned the baby intended to throw him into the drain. However, the baby apparently fell onto the soft surface of the garbage heap. He is suspected to have been abandoned during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and remained exposed to rain for several hours before being rescued.
The baby is undergoing treatment at the Special Newborn Care Unit of Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) for neonatal pneumonia and severe hypothermia. A case has been registered under sections 93 (abandonment of a child by a caregiver or parent) and 109 (attempt to murder) of the BNS and the Child Welfare Committee has been informed.
Efforts are underway to identify and arrest those responsible for abandoning the newborn, allegedly with the intention of killing him, police added.