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ISI agent's newborn dies under mysterious circumstances

January 29, 2016 13:28 IST

Police question Asma Khatoon and her father following the demise of the three day old, who Asma had called a 'traitor's memory.'
M I Khan reports.

On January 27, Asma Khatoon announced that she would disown her newborn son.

Three days later, the child was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Bihar's Bhojpur district.

Asma is the wife of Mohammad Kalam who had been arrested in November for allegedly spying for Pakistan's Directorate of Inter-Services.

Local police officers have begun an investigation into the child's death.

"The police have interrogated Asma and her father to know about the cause of the child's death," a district police officer said.

Asma's father told interrogators that the child had died from an illness, but police officers are investigating all possible angles.

"We have sent the child's body for a post-mortem to ascertain the reasons for the death," the police officer added.

The newborn's death raised suspicions of foul play since Asma had announced that she would not raise a traitor's child.

After delivering a baby boy on Wednesday, January 27, at a local government hospital, Asma had said, 'Main gaddar ki nishani puri umar upne saath nahin rakh sakti, main use nahin palungi (I can't keep a traitor's sign with me; I will not raise this child).'

After Kalam was arrested in Uttar Pradesh, Asma had said, 'If my pregnancy wasn't in such an advanced stage, I would have aborted the child.'

She had also demanded the death sentence for her husband and made it clear that she would sever all ties with him.

'I do not want to be known as the wife of a terrorist, a man who worked against the country,' Asma, a resident of Azimabad village in Bihar's Bhojpur district, had said.

Kalam was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force at Meerut railway station.

According to investigators, he relayed information about military establishments and the movement of army units to his Pakistan handlers.

IMAGE: Mohammad Kalam after his arrest. Photograph: PTI

M I Khan