After a toddler was abandoned outside a temple in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar late Friday night, the local residents, a city councillor and the police came together to not only care for the baby but also trace his parents. The child, barely a year old, was reportedly left outside the Swaminarayan temple’s Gaushala in Pethapur. According to reports, at 9 pm on Friday, an unknown person left the child there before hurrying away. When people heard his cries, they gathered around him. Local councillor Dipti Patel herself took care of the child till they could figure out what had happened. When it was confirmed that the child’s parents were not to be found anywhere, he was taken to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital for a medical check-up. His reports did not show anything amiss.
After CCTV footage showed a man leaving the baby near the gate of Pethapur Swaminarayan temple, Gandhinagar police launched a search operation based on this footage. After around 20 hours of intense sleuthing, the child’s father was traced to Rajasthan. According to the police, the boy’s name is Smit, and his family hails from Gandhinagar. His father’s name is Sachin Dixit, a resident of Sector 26 in the capital city of Gujarat.
Through the CCTV footage, Dixit’s Santro car was identified and its registration number led to his residential address. When the police reached the house, they were told the father had left for Rajasthan. After contacting Rajasthan police, Dixit was brought back to Gujarat.
He left the child at the doorsteps of the Swaminarayan temple due to marital disputes, sources said.
Till his father was traced, the child was in the safe custody of local BJP Corporator Dipti Patel and her husband at the Civil Hospital of Gandhinagar. Teams from Gandhinagar LCB, SOG, Mahila Police and Pethapur police contributed to the search operation after the Ahmedabad Crime Branch was assigned the task to look into the matter. Two PIs and 4 PSI and about 30 police personnel of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch were roped in to investigate. The kid’s DNA sample was also taken.
When he was at the hospital, Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Affairs, Harsh Sanghvi also visited him. Notably, he was in constant touch with the police till 3 am to track the case.
