The body of a newborn baby boy was recovered from inside a lavatory of the Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express at the Sambalpur station in the wee hours on Wednesday.
According to reports, some passengers spotted the baby stuck in the window of the lavatory in the S-1 coach of the train just after it left the Talcher station.
The GRP was informed about the incident, following which the baby was rescued and rushed to the railway doctor here at around 3.30 in night. However, the doctor declared the infant dead after examining him.
The GRP sent the body for postmortem.
“We rushed to rescue the child after the train halted at the Sambalpur station. The baby was stuck in the window of the lavatory. He was taken to the railway doctor who pronounced it dead after examining it. The body was sent to the VSS Medical College Hospital at Burla for postmortem,” GRP ASI Niranjan Das said.
It was yet to be ascertained as to who had abandoned the baby and for what reason in the train lavatory. The postmortem report is expected to throw light on the cause of the death.
It was suspected that an unwed mother might have killed the baby after delivering it to avoid public ignominy. later, she would have tried to throw the baby from the window which did not happen as she had expected, it was further suspected.