Man jumps into river with 9-month old baby in Odisha’s Cuttack

Cuttack: In a shocking incident, a man reportedly jumped into Sidua river at Sainda under Sadar police limits along with his nine-month old daughter in Odisha’s Cuttack district today. Locals present at the spot managed to rescue the child but could not trace the man who went missing.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the man, identified as Prakash Pradhan of Kandarpur, was distressed over family feud. As per reports, his wife was staying at her father’s place with their two daughters. On Sunday, Praash had visited them to convince his wife to return home. He then took their younger daughter out on the pretext of an outing. While it is unclear what transpired between the couple, Prakash suddenly went near the river and jumped into it along with the infant. Locals, on hearing the wife’s screams, tried to rush to their rescue but could not prevent him from jumping into the water body. Some youths present near the river bank however managed to rescue the child but could not find the man. “We saw the man trying to jump with the baby and his wife, who waa following him, crying for help. She claimed that he was trying to kill their baby. I rushed to prevent him but he threatened to hit me with a stone and jumped. I alerted some boys near the river bank and somehow, they saved the baby immediately,” said one of the eyewitnesses.

Police and fire services personnel, on getting information, reached the spot immediately and started search operations but there was no whereabouts of the man till reports last came in. Official sources said the child has been rescued and admitted to the hospital.