The Pradhyumanagar police said Kokila Nayka (30) had given birth to a baby on Wednesday at Nana Vada village in Lodhika taluka. She consumed poison in the early hours of Thursday. Her husband Pravin immediately rushed her to Rajkot Civil Hospital where she died during treatment.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Kokila was under depression because of not bearing a male child, which led her to commit suicide.

Sources said the tribal couple hails from Muldhar village in Pavi Jetpur of Vadodara district and were married for 12 years. They had been working as agriculture labourers at the farmhouse of one Nilesh Pambhar for the last three years.

After they shifted to Saurashtra from South Gujarat to earn a livelihood, Kokila gave birth to two daughters — Mali (2) and the newborn on Wednesday. They already had four girl children, including Chakku (7), Nisha (5), Sheetal (4) and Babli (3).