Jobless and also clueless about how to raise four children drove a Surat-based mason to a desperate act. On October 25, he took his fifth child — a newborn girl to be buried alive — and ran away when the crematorium attendants raised alarm shocked by the cried from the clothe bundle they prepared to bury.

The Surat police traced down the jobless mason who confessed to the crime - as an act of desperation after being arrested on Monday finally, tracing him through his abandoned bike. Sukhram Tiwari (40), a resident of Shantinagar Gujarat Housing Board society in Pandesara, and a mason by profession, was arrested by the police on Sunday evening under Section 317 and 318 of the IPC.

According to the details of the case, Tiwari had brought his two-day old girl for burial at the crematorium on the night of October 25. But as soon as crematorium assistant Mukesh Rathod placed the infant in the ditch, she started crying. Before Rathod could question or catch Tiwari, he had fled from the spot and jumped into the Tapi river.

Rathod then called the police and the infant was handed over to Katargam Balashram home and later taken to the Surat General Hospital, where she died. The body was later sent to SMIMER Hospital for post mortem.

The Katargam police found a Hero Honda Splendor near the crematorium and identified Tiwari on the basis of the bike's registration number. He later confessed to the police during questioning that the infant girl was his child.

... contd.