Vadodara: It was like any other morning for Kaushik Gandhi, a vegetable vendor in Atladara. However, he found something suspicious seeing a blanket kept on the stairs of Verai Mata temple nearby. Sensing something amiss, Gandhi lifted the blanket and to his surprise, he saw a baby girl wrapped inside it.
Initially Gandhi was too flustered and didn't know what to do but then he gathered himself and asked some locals about the girl. "When I went there with my second handcart, I found the blanket which was not there earlier. When I went to pick it up, I found it heavy. On opening it, I found the little girl sleeping wrapped in it," said Gandhi. He then informed the police control room along with local BJP councillor Daksha Patel.
The girl is around one-and-a half-year old.
Patel's son Bhavesh went there and brought the girl home. After the cops reached Patel's house, they took the girl to Manjalpur police station. "It is sad that such a tender-aged girl, who has not even started to speak was abandoned by her family members. We then requested the police if we could take the girl for sometime so that we can bathe and feed her," said Patel, a councillor from ward 12.
The news of the girl generated lot of curiosity among the locals and they thronged to Patel's house to see her. Later during the day, messages went viral on mobile phones seeking help to find the girl's parents.
Cops upheld Patel's request and after she brought the girl back, they handed her over to child care home in Nizampura. "Our men are asking people in the locality and surrounding areas if they had seen anyone carrying the girl. Besides that we are also taking help of our local information network and whatever resources are available with us," said N N Parmar, police inspector, Manjalpur police station.
the baby girl with the locals at Manjalpur police station on sunday
