Kochi: Kerala police and health department officials on Wednesday identified the middleman involved in the Ernakulam Medical College fake birth certificate case.

The newborn was handed over to the couple in Tripunithura within a week of delivery. The decision to give the baby up for adoption was taken weeks before the due date.

As per reports, the mediator is close to both families.

It was found earlier that A A Anil Kumar, the administrative assistant at Ernakulam Medical College Hospital, facilitated the illegal handover of the newborn besides generating a fake birth certificate.

Anil initially tried to rectify the original birth certificate. However, when that attempt failed, he resorted to forging one.

Police filed cases of forgery and fraud against Anil and A N Rahana, a temporary staff of Kalamassery Municipality. The latter was relieved of her duties after a probe by the Medical College Principal found that she had issued the certificate without examining the bonafide of the application for it.

The alleged fake birth certificate states that the baby was born at the Ernakulam Medical College Hospital on January 31, 2023. Anil, who is now accused of forging the certificate, acquired the fake document on February 1.

Rahana was in charge of the kiosk at the birth/death registration department of the Kalamassery Municipality. Her complaint eventually resulted in the unravelling of the forgery and arrest of Anil Kumar. She had allegedly found certain discrepancies in the birth report and enquired with the labour room nurses, who declared that they had no record of childbirth to a couple named Anoop Kumar and Sunitha as stated in the application form submitted by Anil.

The subsequent arrest and probe revealed that the baby had been illegally adopted.

Meanwhile, the identity of the biological parents of the infant remains unclear. The police have intensified the probe to find them. The Tripunithura couple who was behind the adoption bid of the baby using fake documents has gone missing.