From correspondents in Karnataka, India, 10:32 PM IST

A 28-year-old father arranged for the 'kidnap' of his new born from a government hospital in Bangalore city as the baby was a girl. He is now assisting the city police to trace the woman to whom he handed over the baby.

The baby went 'missing' a few hours after her birth Saturday at K.C. General Hospital in Malleswaram, about six km from city centre, even before her mother Mahalakshmi could see her.

But by Sunday evening the newborn's father Manjunath, a painter, confessed he had given away the child as he was expecting a son, the police said.

The woman to whom he handed over the child has not been traced yet as information provided by Manjunath on her is sketchy. He told the police that the woman was from Pavagada, about 150 km from Bangalore.

A team of city police has gone Pavagada to trace the woman, Chennamma.

'We are trying very hard,' said Mohd. Aslam, inspector of the Malleswaram police station where a child missing complaint was filed by the baby's father himself.

'He is helping us out. He is remorseful over what he has done,' Aslam said when asked whether any case has been filed against Manjunath.

Within hours after Manjunath's baby went missing, a body of a new born girl was found in a roadside pit on city's outskirts, raising fears that it could be Manjunath's child.

The body has been sent to Victoria Hospital, a government-run hospital in Bangalore city, for DNA test to find out whether it is the child of Manjunath and Mahalakshmi, Aslam said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)