BENGALURU: Byatarayanapura police have arrested a 43-year-old Virajpet coffee estate owner after he and his paramour abandoned their two-week-old premature baby girl, who was born with a cleft lip. They had left the baby in an autorickshaw at the Kengeri Satellite Bus Stand. The couple, involved in an illicit relationship, refused to take responsibility for the child due to her deformity and had travelled to Bengaluru to abandon her, police said.
On April 24, at 5.50 am, Rajasekhar Rao, a resident, heard cries from a parked autorickshaw. Upon checking, he found the baby wrapped in a cloth and left alone in the backseat. He immediately alerted the police, who arrived at the scene and rushed the infant to Vani Vilas Hospital.
According to police, P Appanna, a coffee estate owner with a 10-acre farm and a farmhouse near Virajpet, had arrived at the Kengeri Satellite Bus Stand in the early hours with his paramour and her four-year-old son.
“The couple said they were unwilling to care for the child due to her cleft lip and left her because the woman did not want to take responsibility for a baby who couldn’t breastfeed due to the deformity,” police added.
Both Appanna and the woman are separated from their previous partners. After abandoning the baby in the autorickshaw, they returned home, where police arrested Appanna. The woman, who has one child from a previous relationship, has been sent to a rehabilitation centre due to her alcohol addiction.
The newborn, a premature baby, is currently under the care of the Child Welfare Commission and is being closely monitored at Vani Vilas Hospital.