CHENNAI: Police on Monday secured the body of a recently born male child at the banks of Cooum River near Thiurmangalam.

Police were informed of the dead child by a local resident, a 66-year-old woman when she visited a temple in Sathya Sai Nagar.

After a foul smell emanated from the back side of the temple, the elderly woman checked on the area along with others and found the decomposed body of a child there.

A patrol vehicle of Thirumangalam police rushed to the scene on information, secured the decomposed body of the child, and moved it to a government hospital for autopsy.

Police have sought information from hospitals in the neighbourhood if any male child was delivered in their facility recently, to trace the parents.

Further investigations are on.