Newborn girl strangled at hospital in MP’s Ashok Nagar; The police suspect the role of the family

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A newborn girl was allegedly strangled to death at the Special Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) of a Madhya Pradesh hospital in Ashoknagar, with police suspecting the involvement of her mother or grandmother, officials said on Sunday (Oct 4, 2026).

The baby, the third daughter of a joint family from Sakrra village in Chanderi area, was born around 11.50 pm 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 officer Ravipratap Singh Chauhan told PTI over phone.

According to investigators, the child’s mother and grandmother were at SNCU.

“We are investigating the death and we strongly suspect that either the child’s mother or the 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 by his first wife but no child by his second wife. The deceased was the third female child in the family, the official said.

The doctor who conducted the autopsy found marks around the child’s neck that indicated strangulation, the sources said, adding that the autopsy report was awaited.

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

Police are investigating the reason for 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,” the investigator said.

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

The state also recorded 20 cases of feticide against 88 nationally, second only to Chhattisgarh, and 140 cases of newborn abandonment out of 653 nationally, the highest in the country, according to the report.

Published – 04 Oct 2026 12:48 IST