Toddler identified but parents missing

The one-and-half-year-old girl separated from her parents and found on the Varanasi ghats following the December 7 blast has been identified.

The one-and-half-year-old girl separated from her parents and found on the Varanasi ghats following the December 7 blast has been identified. Her parents are yet to be located and the police suspect that she might have been deliberately abandoned.

Gauri is the daughter of Neelesh Pandey and Geeta residents of Ballia district. The family lives in a rented house in Hanumanpura,a neighbourhood in Varanasis Bhelupur. On Sunday,the police and NGO Childline were been able to trace the house. Rajmohan Yadav,Station Officer of Bhelupur Police Station,said Gauris parents have been missing since Tuesday.

According to their landlady,Parvati who identified the child and her husband Gorakh,the couple had gone to attend a wedding on the day of the blast. Their house had been locked since 5 pm that day,said her son Suraj.

After identifying the child,Parvati called Neelesh on his cellphone and asked about his daughter,but Neelesh said Gauri had died. He did not give his whereabouts and switched off the phone, said Azad,a Childline member.

Neelesh is a night guard and Geeta works as a housemaid, said Sister Lincy,who works for Childline,where the baby is currently lodged.

They have been living in Varanasi for the last three years,and shifted to Bhelupur sometime in November, said Prem Prakash,DIG,Varanasi. Though we are still trying to find out why they left the child behind,the father does not seem linked to the blast as of now. We are trying to get in touch with her parents and might send a search team to Ballia.

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