Millionaire businessman adopts baby

KHANDWA (MP): After nearly a month-long legal battle, a local court on Wednesday permitted a city businessman to adopt an infant boy, who was found abandoned in a train here.

District and Sessions judge CS Tiwari granted custody of the boy to Bhagwandas Ahuja after hearing submissions made by him as well as a Mumbai-based engineer Ravindra Gehlot, who had also wanted to adopt the child.

The court gave the custody to Ahuja after observing it would be in the interests of the infant since he was staying in a joint family.

The court had reserved its verdict on April 26 after both Ahuja and Gehlot moved the court seeking the infant's custody.

Initially the district administration was understood to have favoured giving custody of the child to Ahuja, who deals in sugar and transport business, sources said.

Six families had initially sought to adopt the child, named Shiv by some hospital nurses under whose care he was placed after he was found in a train at the railway station here on February 15, sources said. Four families later withdrew their contention but Ahuja and Gehlot pressed with their claim.

In affidavits submitted to district collector for adoption, Gehlot had claimed to possess assets worth Rs1.25 crore while Ahuja of Khandwa declared ownership of property worth Rs1.5 crore.

Jubilant over the court verdict, Ahuja and his wife Anjana thanked god and expressed confidence that the child would be brought up well under their custody.

A disappointed Gehlot wished the boy a good future.