Man administers ‘poisonous jab’ to his 20-day-old daughter in Balasore, detained

Nilagiri: Displeased over the birth of a girl child, a man allegedly injected poison today into his 20-day-old daughter with the intention to kill the newborn. The heart-wrenching incident was reported from Singiri village under Nilagiri block in Odisha’s Balasore.

According to a police source, the baby girl’s mother named Tanmaya was given in marriage to the accused identified as Chandan Maharana from Mallikashpur in the district, in 2022. Tanmaya is the daughter of Bhagirathi Singh from Nilagiri locality.

The woman had given birth to the baby following a C-section operation in a private hospital on May 9. Subsequently, after being discharged from the health facility, Tanmaya was sent to her father’s house for a few days by her in-laws, along with the girl child.

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Chandan hatched a plan to take the life of the baby prior to the performance of Ekoisia (21st-day) rituals, two days ago. Accordingly, the accused visited his father-in-law’s house and executed his plan, thereby committing the crime.

“Chandan injected a pesticide into the baby’s body when Tanmaya was taking bath and was out of the room where the victim was sleeping. After returning home, Tanmaya smelt something foul. She found an injection syringe lying near the baby,” the cop Uttam Singh stated.

Meanwhile, the accused Chandan has admitted to his crime during a preliminary investigation, the cop added.

Later, the baby was rushed to the hospital in critical condition by her maternal grandparents. She is now undergoing treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Balasore town and is not out of danger, a doctor treating her at the DHH said.

Besides, Chandan has been detained by police and a probe into the brutal incident is underway.