Kochi: A teenage boy who roamed around the boat jetty in Ernakulam with a newborn baby in hand sent the police and the public into a tizzy on Saturday. Though the people in the area suspected the teen to be a child trafficker and handed him over to the police, subsequent investigations revealed that he was just taking care of the baby while its parents were getting married in Kottayam!
The strange babysitter was spotted near the boat jetty around 11am on Saturday. When questioned by the people, he said that he was from Kottayam but could not come up with a convincing explanation about the baby. A cop on duty in the area was called in.
The boy told the police that he was with his brother's baby. He reasoned that the baby was left with him as the parents had to go to Kottayam on an emergency the previous night. He also said that he was also on the way to Kottayam. When asked why he was wandering about the boat jetty, he replied that he wanted to take in the scenes.
He could not explain why he wanted to visit the city with a 10-day old baby or why the mother had left such an infant in his care. The policeman informed the control room of the strange situation and a Pink Patrol team took over.
The police at the Ernakulam central station collected the child's parents' phone numbers from the teen and called them up. The couple promptly reached the station with some relatives by evening. The cops were in for some more shock.
The father of the child, it turned out, was a cousin of the teen. The IT professional in Kochi and his living-in partner were about to get married when they were surprised to learn about the pregnancy. To avoid certain embarrassment, they sought help from the teen to look after the child while they went to Kottayam to get married.
The teen was supposed to take the child to its parents' house in Kottayam as soon as the wedding was over. Instead he found himself in police custody.