Newborn girl strangled at hospital in M.P.'s Ashok Nagar; cops suspect family's role

A newborn girl has allegedly been strangled to death inside the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of a hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Ashoknagar, with police suspecting the involvement of her mother or grandmother, officials said on Sunday (October 4, 2026).

The baby, the third daughter of a joint family from Sakrra village in the Chanderi area, was born around 11.50 p.m. on Friday (October 2, 2026) and was admitted to the SNCU shortly after. She was found dead between 3 and 4 pm on Saturday (October 3, 2026), Kotwali police Station House Officer Ravipratap Singh Chauhan told PTI over the phone.

According to the investigators, the baby's mother and grandmother were at the SNCU.

"We are investigating the death and strongly suspect that either the child's mother or grandmother was involved in the strangulation. The needle of suspicion was more on the mother," Mr. Chauhan said.

The child was the second daughter of her parents. Her father's elder brother has a daughter from his first wife, but no child from the second wife. The deceased was the third female child in the family, the official said.

A doctor who conducted the post-mortem found marks around the baby's neck, indicating strangulation, sources said, adding that the autopsy report was awaited.

There were no CCTV cameras inside the SNCU, and therefore no footage of the incident was available, they added.

Police are investigating the reason behind the strangulation. “There is a strong possibility that the family killed the child to get rid of her, as she was the third girl in the family. We are recording statements and gathering evidence to identify the culprit,” an investigator said.

According to a report, Madhya Pradesh recorded 12 cases of infanticide in 2023 out of 67 such cases reported across the country, placing the state second after Haryana.

The State also recorded 20 cases of foeticide against 88 nationwide, second after Chhattisgarh, and 140 cases of newborn abandonments out of 653 nationwide, the highest in the country, as per the report.