Cuttack: A 15-day-old infant - left alone for a few minutes - was taken away by a monkey at Talabasta village, 25km from here, early on Saturday morning.

A search operation has been launched by the police, fire and forest officials, but the baby is yet to be traced.

Born to Ramakrishna Nayak, 32, and Sarojini, 27, the baby was brought home a week after being born at the local hospital. Around 6am on Saturday, the baby was brought out of the room and placed on the inner verandah of the house inside a small mosquito net. The mother was in the kitchen when the monkey took the baby away.

"After I placed the baby inside the mosquito net, I went to get something. When I returned after a few minutes, I saw the monkey carrying my child, jumping over the asbestos roof of the house and disappearing," she said.

"Some villagers also saw the monkey with the baby and raised an alarm, but it vanished into the trees," the father said. The search operation began at 9am.

Local police official A. Kumar said the search operation was being carried out by the fire service and forest personnel with the villagers. However, they are yet to trace the baby. Local forest ranger A. Rath said 30 forest personnel divided into three teams were on the job.

"We suspect that the monkey may have taken the baby into the nearby forest. So, a team is scouting the forest areas as well," the forest ranger said.