Banki: The body of a 15-day-old baby boy who was snatched from his parents by a monkey in the early morning hours on Saturday at Talabasta village under Banki police station limits in Odisha’s Cuttack district, was found floating inside a well on the back side of their house in the morning on Sunday.
Sources said a woman a neighbour of Ramakrushna Nayak had gone to fetch water from a well near the house of at about 5 am when she noticed something floating on water. Later, she called up a youth, who after noticing the floating object informed the villagers. Later, some villagers rushed to the well and found that it was the baby boy who was snatched by a monkey.
Following information, police rushed to the spot and took the body to the Banki Sub Divisional Hospital for post mortem.
When asked how the villagers did not search the well when they were searching every nook and corner of the village, a majority villagers said hardly anyone goes to the well to fetch water since the water is pulled by a motor.
The villagers said the monkey, while jumping the well from the asbestos roof of Nayak’s house, lost control of the baby which slipped from its hand and fell inside the well.
The wife of Ramakrushna had given birth to a baby boy 15 days ago.
On Friday night, the couple was sleeping with their baby inside the room in their house. In the early morning hours on Saturday, the mother left her son and went inside the room when a monkey suddenly snatched the baby boy. Seeing this incident, the panicked mother raised alarm. Before the husband could react, the simian had fled the area after scaling the roof of the house.
After the couple informed the villagers, they began a frantic search for the boy. Following information, the Forest officials rushed to the village and started the search operation.
But as the baby boy remained untraced for over five hours, 50 Forest staffs in five teams led by the Ranger of Damapada Forest Range, Sangram Keshari Mohanty along with intensified the search operation but to no avail.
Sources in the family said the baby had the problem in crying at the time of the birth for which he was recently admitted to the Banki Sub Divisional Hospital.
“As the baby boy has problem in crying, it has become difficult for us to trace his whereabouts in the forest as we cannot hear his voice”, the Forest staffs said.
