A new born male child was rescued by a flower vendor after he found the child abandoned in front of  St Mary’s Basilica Church in Shivajinagar on Thursday evening.

G Ravi, a resident of Tusker Town in Shivajinagar and a flower vendor near the Church, approached the Shivajinagar police and as per their directives, handed over the child to Makkala Sahayavani in Police Commissioner’s office on Friday afternoon.

The Sahayavani officials said that the child may be a  week old and would be handed over to the custody of Children Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kidwai Hospital.

Ravi told Deccan Herald that he saw a girl entering the church to offer prayers on Thursday evening and suddenly he realised that she had left a baby and run away.

He thought that the baby was dead. But as he approached the infant he realised that it was alive. He immediately took the child to the priest.

“The Father advised me to keep the baby for six months. But, when I approached the police on his directions, I was disappointed that they wanted me to hand it over to the CWC,” he said

However, the officials said that as per the rules they ha to hand over the child to the CWC custody. The Sahayavani officials named the child as Swaraj as per the suggestion of Deccan Herald.