The Navi Mumbai Police have detained the father of a newborn girl who was found abandoned in a basket on a footpath in Panvel on Saturday, alongside a heartbreaking handwritten note in which the parents had apologised for giving her up, citing financial conditions, news agency PTI reported.

The accused, a resident of Bhiwandi in Thane district, was traced within 24 hours by the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch. He has been handed over to Panvel Town Police for further investigation. The police are now working to trace the child’s mother.

According to investigators, the baby was born to an unwed couple, reported PTI. Though the parents had allegedly planned to leave the child at an orphanage in Panvel, they instead left her in a blue basket opposite Swapnalay Girls’ Hostel in Takka.