Video: Newborn rescued from drain in Chennai on I-Day, named Suthanthiram

Chennai: While India celebrated its 72nd Independence Day on Wednesday, a woman in Chennai was alerted early morning by a milkman about a sound coming from a nearby storm water drain in Valasaravakkam.

Initially they thought it must be a kitten.

The woman, Geeta, stopped and decided to take a look and see what was stuck in the drain.

What she saw, mad her jump in apprehension.

An abandoned newborn with the umbilical cord still intact, wrapped around the neck, was stuck in the drain.

Within moments, Geeta knew what needed to be done.

The woman knelt down and first tugged at the newborn’s foot with mild force and when certain that the baby could be pulled out safely, she took it out from the drain and gently untwined the cord as not to hurt the baby's neck.

Geeta gave a thorough washing to the newborn to remove the dirt before taking him to Chennai's Egmore Hospital.

Click here to watch the video.

According to doctors at the hospital said the baby is doing fine now.

Speaking to NDTV, Geeta said, “I am naming him Suthanthiram (freedom) since we found him on Independence Day. I am glad he got his freedom to live.”

Police sources, in conversation with NDTV said that a milkman alerted them and they reached the spot immediately. “Fortunately there was no water in the place where the infant was kept. The baby is fine. He is presently at the government children's hospital, Egmore. We will send him to a children's home later," a police officer added.

People are now enquiring about the baby and many have shown interest in adopting him. People from around the city and country have congratulated Geeta for her intervention.

The newborn was found abandoned despite government a programme launched by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa where hospitals in Tamil Nadu have a cradle for unwanted babies to be placed so the state government could take care of them.