In a heart rending incident, an 20-day-old infant died after its mother was prevented by a labour contractor from leaving the work place to feed it. According to delayed reports reaching the district headquarters, the incident took place on February 7 in Turkalakhanapur village in Hathnoora mandal of Medak District in Telangana.

Reports said Malleswari, mother of three minor girls and the 20-day-old baby boy, was a labourer and had migrated to the village along with others from Nawabpet mandal of Mahabubnagar District. She along with other villagers had been hired by a contractor to work in an industry, where expansion work was on.

On the fateful day, Malleswari, left behind her baby in a thatched hut near the industry and went for work. As the baby started crying and did not stop for a long time, she pleaded with the contractor to allow her to feed the baby. The contractor refused to permit her to go out.

In the meantime, as the baby stopped crying, the tensed mother rushed to the hut only to find the boy lifeless. Other villagers rushed the baby to a nearby Government hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The panic stricken contractor, it is understood forced the mother and others to take the body to outskirts of Narsapur, where it was buried.