While the city was celebrating the festival of lights, darkness took form when an unidentified woman allegedly abandoned her baby girl, barely a day or two old, to die on a deserted stretch in Malad West. The Bangur Nagar police found the baby near the footpath in front of the Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Udyan, commonly referred to as back road garden. Apart from a few pedestrians and buses ferrying call centre employees, the spot sees very little activity at night.

Around 11.30 pm on Saturday, a passer-by out on a walk heard the faint cries of an infant and immediately alerted the police. “The newborn was found wrapped in cloth, with ants crawling all over her body. As she was bitten all over, she was in pain and wailing. It seemed like divine intervention that she kept crying, as her voice ultimately reached someone willing to help,” said an officer from Bangur Nagar police station.