Statements recorded, parents of ‘battered’ baby

The parents of Ahuti Joshi, the three-month-old who died in KEM Hospital on Monday after alleged battering, left home at Gorai in Borivali (West) on Tuesday. The house was locked and neighbours said the family went to its native place.

Investigating officer PSI Shashikant Ahire said the parents told him on Monday they would go to Gujarat to perform last rites of Ahuti.

Bhagwan Chate, senior inspector at Borivali Police Station, said they had mobile numbers of the parents. "The parents are ready to cooperate. We have recorded their statements. If we need them for further investigation, we will ask them to be present here."

Police said investigation in the case would progress only after they get the post-mortem report.

"Since we do not know medical terms, we are depending on the post-mortem report. In the first autopsy report, the cause of death was 'pending'," said Chate.

Ahuti was admitted to KEM Hospital ICU on September 24 with a fractured skull, ribs and breathing difficulty. Her condition started deteriorating rapidly on Monday and she died of a cardiac arrest in the afternoon.

Police had recorded on Monday statements of her father Kalpesh, who works at a garment factory in Santacruz, and mother Dharmishtha. Kalpesh said when Dharmishtha was pregnant for a second time with twins, she started developing complications in the fifth month. The couple have a 13-month-old daughter. In the seventh month, Kalpesh said, doctors suggested a caesarean to save the twins and the mother. But one of the twins died 10 days after birth, while the second, Ahuti, developed complications.

Dharmishtha told police Ahuti had fever and trouble breathing on September 23. They took her to local Shivani hospital, where doctors advised to shift her to another hospital with ventilator facility as the one they had was not free.

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