The family has blamed the ward master of the hospital for the disappearance. On July 8, one Pinaki Naskar (20) had died at the CMCH allegedly while delivering twins. Soon after the delivery, one of the babies had died. Following this, Pinaki’s relatives had requested the ward master to keep the baby that had survived for two days. But when they returned after performing Pinaki’s last rites, they found the baby was missing.

According to the family, though they wanted to lodge a complaint with the hospital authorities, they were threatened by the ward master. The matter came to light when the child’s grandmother, Seema Naskar, lodged a police complaint on December 29 - nearly five months after the baby went missing from the hospital.

Siddhartha Chakrabarty, Medical Superintendent of CMCH, however, claimed on Thursday that Pinaki’s ultrasonography report had revealed that she had given birth to one baby on July 8. The test was conducted at the Sambhunath Pandit Hospital before Pinaki was admitted to the CMCH.

Chakrabarty added that after Pinaki’s death, her family had refused to take the body for cremation and it was later taken away by the police.

He added that Pinaki was first admitted to the hospital on July 1, and in spite of being warned that she needed medical attention, she was discharged by her family. She was later re-admitted on July 8, when she died while giving birth.