Newborn dead in Mauli Jagran: DNA test nails 40-year-old, her minor daughter

The minor was said to be pregnant before the discovery of the body. The abandoned body of a child was found in the suburban area Mauli Jagran on December 4 last year.

The mtDNA samples of many people including the suspects were collected on December 8 last year.

Police said that the minor girl was sent to a women’s shelter home in Sector 26 and her mother was remanded in two days of police custody. The duo was rounded up following investigators receiving a positive mtDNA match report from CFSL, Sector 36.

mtDna is an extranuclear double-stranded DNA found exclusively in mitochondria and is maternally inherited. The mtDNA report of the minor girl was matched with the DNA samples of the dead child, in one of the rare instances of an investigating agency using DNA to zero down on possible suspects in a case.

Sources said, “A medical opinion to ascertain whether the child died after birth or if it was delivered dead is awaited. If the opinion suggests that the child died after birth, section 302 (murder) of the IPC might be added in the FIR against the woman and her daughter. The girl is being counselled in the shelter home to ascertain the person who may have got her pregnant. A separate FIR under relevant charges shall be lodged against the responsible person once his identity is established.”

“The body of the child was discovered near a residential area around 9am. We had zeroed down on many people for the collection of DNA samples. There were inputs about the suspects but in the absence of any direct evidence, it was not feasible for us to take legal action. The mtDNA samples, in the shape of a blood sample of the girl, were collected after some days. Three days ago, we received a positive report from CFSL indicating a match of the dead child and the minor girl. The postmortem of the body was conducted at GMCH-32,” a police officer said.

Police said that the arrested woman and her daughter worked as domestic helps at many houses in the area, and the woman’s husband is a daily wager.

Sources said police had already registered an FIR under Section 318 (secretly burying or otherwise disposing of the death body of a child whether such child died before or after or during its birth) and later added Section 315 ( act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) of IPC. A case was registered at Mauli Jagran police station.