Mother who tossed child out still critical

MUMBAI: Monica Ramesh Baheti, 28, who jumped from the blazing Johari Mansion in Kalbadevi on Tuesday after she failed to toss her three-year-old daughter to safety, remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
"She is still critical. We will perform some tests on Thursday and then decide whether we can operate on her brain where she has contusions,'' said Bombay Hospital spokesperson Ashish Tiwari, adding that she is still on a ventilator.Unconscious, she is unaware that her daughter died on Tuesday.
Monica had, on Tuesday, soon after the flames enveloped her home, flung her eight-month-old child to neighbours gathered in the adjoining building. While neighbours managed to catch the infant, they failed to hold on to Monica's other child, three-year-old Maitri, who was tossed in their direction by the desperate mother.
Maitri, however, slipped from the neighbours' hands and landed in the gutter below. Shocked at seeing her child fall, the mother too jumped from the building. The fire that broke out at the four-storeyed Mhada building claimed two, a 50-year-old man and Monica's daughter Maitri.
Meanwhile, at ground zero, smoke emanating from the 100-year-old structure kept firemen busy 24 hours after the tragedy.
Throughout the day, fire fighters maintained a strict vigil outside the partly-collapsed building, as tenants, who had shops and establishments on ground and first floors, tried to retrieve whatever was left of their belongings. Officials of Vijaya Bank, located on the ground floor of the building, safely brought out computers and other office equipment with help from the police and fire brigade.
Fire officials said the building may collapse any moment. The residents, however, were not happy with the efforts made to protect neighbouring structures from collapsing.
"Even though fire brigade officials know that Johari Mansion can collapse at any time, they have not deployed structural experts who can tell us what the neighbours can do in case of a collapse. They are just waiting for the inevitable to happen,'' said Kishore Jain, resident of neighbouring Kanak Chambers, which has 35 commercial shops and is located at a distance of just 3 ft from Johari Mansion.
P D Kurgoppikar, joint chief fire officer, said investigations were on to find out the exact cause of the fire. "The fourth and fifth floors of the building have already collapsed and even approach stairs to the third floor are gutted,'' he said.