Chandkheda tragedy: Mother maintains cause of death was batter

Ahmedabad: Investigators probing the suspicious deaths of the Prajapati siblings in Chandkheda were finally able to question their mother, Bhavna, on late Monday evening after her discharge from a private hospital. Maintaining that three-month-old Raha and four-year-old Mishri were not murdered, she, like her husband Vimal, blamed the deaths on contamination in the dosa batter bought from a store. Police officials said that soon after she was discharged from the hospital, Bhavna was taken to the Chandkheda police station where questioning continued late into the night.Vimal, who was grilled on Friday, too had said the batter led to his daughters' deaths. Questioned on her diary note that indicated her wish for a male child, Bhavna told police it was written after Mishri's birth and it implied that their family would be complete if the next child was a male. "Investigation into the death of the three-month-old is proceeding in the direction of passive infanticide," a police official said.From early on in the investigation, police have found parents' claim unconvincing, especially after no other customer who bought batter from the same shop reported illness. Vimal's parents Gaurishankar and Kusum Prajapati too are under the scanner after their inconsistent statements, police had said earlier, adding that investigators are considering polygraph tests.Any concrete headway in the case now depends on what the lab reports, expected to arrive on Wednesday, reveal. Results therein will determine if and when the lie-detection tests will be conducted, investigating officers said.