No kidding: 19-year-old Bengaluru student ‘bags’ son

On Thursday, Sai Charan, 19, offered to take care of a woman’s bag while she went to “relieve herself”. As the wait seemed like an eternity, he began to grow suspicious. And when he felt something stirring in the bag, he realised he was saddled with an abandoned newborn boy.

Lakshmi Pavan and Charan of Chamrajapet, both 19 and doing their first-year degree, were having tea at TR Mill Circle in Chamarajpet at 11.15 am on Thursday. A woman clad in a red saree approached them and spoke to them in Kannada, asking them to hold her cotton bag till she drank some water. After drinking water, she went towards a public toilet.

The two waited for half an hour but there was no sign of the woman. Suddenly, they felt something moving in the bag and were shocked to see a newborn baby inside the bag alive, covered with a cloth and with the placenta still on it.

Pavan told DH that Charan broke down after seeing the newborn in the bag. They immediately rushed to the police station to hand over the baby and file a complaint.

Chamarajpet inspector V G Kumaraswamy said the infant was shifted to neonatal ICU in Vanivilas Hospital soon after the boys brought it to the station and added that the baby was healthy. “We are collecting the details of newborns delivered on Thursday and are also checking CCTV footage from surrounding areas,” he said.

Kumaraswamy added that soon after news about the incident went around in the area, five to six couples landed at the police station begging to let them adopt the baby, saying they have been childless for 15-20 years. But theThe police and doctors suspect the infant was abandoned within two hours of the delivery.y were turned away saying it was illegal.

“After being discharged from the hospital, the infant will be handed over the Child Welfare Committee. If anybody wants to adopt the infant, they will have to follow legal procedures,” he said.

The police and doctors suspect the infant was abandoned within two hours of the delivery.