Post-mortem report confirms 3-month-old girl was battered

Initially,the cause of death was reserved until the histopathological examination but it was not required,doctors said.

Doctors ruled out any another possibility for the injuries. “The police asked us whether the injuries were possible due to an accidental fall. If that were the case,the child would have injured her head only on one side and not both. They also asked if the child’s condition could be the result of complications due to her premature birth. But it has nothing to do with that. She had all signs of a battered baby,” said Pathak. The findings have been handed over to Borivali (West) police for investigation.

Ahuti was admitted to KEM on September 24 by her parents Kalpesh and Dharmishtha. “She was brought unconscious with swelling on the head and a black eye. We did a CT scan that showed she had multiple skull fracture. We put her on ventilator,gave her multiple blood transfusions and kept her in intensive care,” said Dr Mukesh Agarwal,head,paediatrics,KEM.

Doctors said the parents could not give any plausible explanation for the injuries. “They have not given any history of trauma or fall. All they said was the patient had fever for six or seven days and had been unconscious for a day,” said Dr Agarwal. The parents underwent examination by the hospital’s psychiatry department but were uncooperative,doctors said.

“The post mortem report has been collected from KEM and we are in the process of registering a case. We will consult our superiors about sections to be applied,” said an officer from the Borivali police station.

Sunil Paraskar,additional commissioner of police (north region) said,“The parents are in Gujarat. We have received the post mortem report and will study it thoroughly after which action will be taken.”

Police had registered an accidental death case on Monday and recorded statement of parents on Tuesday. As they had not received the final post by then,they had allowed the parents to take away the body to Gujarat to perform the last rites.