CHENNAI: Onlookers secured a newborn found abandoned outside a lodge in Triplicane on Sunday and handed over the child to the police. Investigations revealed that the child was born out of wedlock between a girl and an auto-rickshaw driver, both hailing from Madurai.

City Police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and have launched a search for the auto driver who allegedly impregnated her.

The minor girl is the daughter of a visually impaired couple. The auto driver had lured her into relationship promising to marry her and had impregnated her. The pregnant girl, with her visually impaired father, had come to Chennai and were staying at a lodge.

While at the lodge, the girl gave birth to a male child and they reportedly abandoned the child outside the lodge and fled. Police traced the girl and her father and took their statements. Cops are looking for the auto driver Rajkumar.