Battered baby Three-month-old was severely beaten up a day after she fell from bed. Dharmishtha Joshi,who was arrested on Thursday night for allegedly battering three-month-old daughter Ahuti,has told police she killed the child by pressing her head down hard and beating her up severely to stop her constant crying. Borivali police officers probing the case claimed on Friday Dharmishtha made the confession after she was arrested from the house of a relative at Thakur Complex in Kandivali (East). She was presented before a court on Friday and remanded in police custody till October 12. The officers said Ahuti was a premature baby and kept unwell. They said Dharmishtha,who suffers from low blood pressure,could not control herself and beat up the child on September 22. She allegedly told police a day before the beating,Ahuti had fallen from bed. She said she hid the incident from husband Kalpesh fearing he many shout at her. The police officers said Dharmishtha also told them Ahuti cried a lot and Kalpesh blamed it on her inability to care. Dharmishtha was scared and frustrated by the constant crying and beat up Ahuti after husband took their elder daughter to watch Ganpati immersions, said Bhagwan Chate,senior inspector. Police said it appeared Kalpesh did not know of the beating and did not have a role in the death of Ahuti,but he had not been given a clean chit yet. We will now investigate whether Dharmishtha used a blunt object to beat the baby, said Chate. Police will also probe the death of Ahutis twin sister 10 days after her birth. Ahuti was admitted to KEM Hospital with severe head and abdominal injuries on September 24. An X-ray and CT scan revealed she had multiple skull fractures. The girl died of a cardiac arrest at about 1 pm on Monday. Police initially registered an accidental death case and recorded statements of the parents on Tuesday. As they had not received the final post-mortem report then,the parents were allowed to take the body to Gujarat for last rites. After the post-mortem report confirmed on Wednesday that Ahuti was battered,police registered a murder case and arrested her mother on Thursday.
