Parents of girl found abandoned on Varanasi ghat sent to jail

The child Gauri will remain with her mother Gita during this period, while 11-year-old Riya will stay with her uncle, police said today.

Gita and her husband Nilesh Pandey were booked under various sections of IPC and Protection of Child Rights Act for torturing a minor and abandoning their daughter in an infectious environment, Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhushan said.

Nilesh, who works as a guard, and Gita were unhappy over having another girl child and planned to abandon her, the official said as he maintained the couple were not related to the blast conspiracy.

Gita was taken into police custody on Sunday after she returned here, while Nilesh was detained in Balia.

Nilesh had earlier maintained that Gauri is dead. The child was found abandoned on December seven at the Shitla ghat, the scene of the blast that left two, including a two-year-old girl, dead.