COIMBATORE: The Mettupalayam police have launched an investigation into an illegal adoption of a one-day-old child and its death on Thursday.
A couple from Kanuvai in Coimbatore district illegally adopted an infant from Kumbakonam. But within a day the children died due to alleged illness.
The police say the couple is from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district and has been based in Kanuvai where they worked at a private company. As they had not had children in the last 18 years since their marriage they had been taking treatment for infertility for many years.
Also, they wished to adopt a child even illegally and requested a nurse in Kumbakonam to inform them if any child was available for adoption.
Two days ago, the nurse called the couple and informed them that a couple about to deliver a child on Wednesday was willing to give their child for adoption illegally. The couple went to Kumbakonam on Thursday, adopted the one-day-old male child, and returned to Coimbatore in the evening.
During the return journey the baby suddenly fell ill due to lactation and they took the child to a private hospital in Avinashi in Tiruppur district. Following the medical examinations, the couple was asked to take the child to Mettupalayam as the child needs a hospital with Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) facility. The couple took the child to a private hospital at Mettupalayam and then to the Mettupalayam Government Hospital where the child died in the evening.
Based on the alert, the Mettupalayam police sent the body for autopsy and questioned the couple and confirmed it was an illegal adoption.
According to the police, the case has now been registered under Section of 194 of the BNSS Act (suspicious death). Charges of illegal adoption too could be added based on the findings of the probe.
The couple is yet to be booked or arrested.
We have decided to take the nurse into their custody to find out if she was involved in any other illegal adoptions and sales earlier, said police sources.