"there was a sound like the exploding of firecrackers"
The shocked parents of Mahi Shinde, an 11-year-old girl from Indore in India, revealed how their young daughter was shot in the head during a Garba event on Tuesday, October 4, 2022.
During the Garba, the young girl was shot without anyone really knowing what happened to her, including her parent. Subsequently, the girl passed away in hospital, after over 12 hours of suffering.
The incident happened around 10.30 pm on Tuesday night in the Maa Sharda Nagar area and it is not known yet who fired the shot that hit Mahi in the head.
Mother, Raksha Shinde, explained how she lost her young daughter forever:
“I had gone to see Garba going on in the colony with daughter Mahi and son Hardik. My daughter was sitting on my lap.
“After a while suddenly there was a sound like the exploding of firecrackers. Before I could understand anything, a fountain of blood burst from the head of the daughter sitting on my lap.
“I was 500 meters away from home. Pressing the head of my daughter Mahi, I ran towards the house. I thought someone must have thrown a stone.
Then, I along with my husband Santosh reached Barod Hospital located at the Bapat intersection with our daughter.
The hospital asked us to take the girl away from there to another hospital as they could not treat her.
“Then we took quickly her to Rajshree Hospital located at Scheme 54 while my daughter was lying in the car covered in blood.
“She was uttering a mumbling sound from her mouth. But he was not moving and her eyes were not opening. We repeatedly kept our hands on his chest to check whether she was breathing or not.
“After we deposited 10 thousand rupees at the hospital, Mahi’s treatment started.
“She was sent for a CT scan at around 11:30 pm. while going for the scan, she suddenly raised his hand and just gestured to us. It felt like she was going to be okay.
“After the scan, she was lying on a stretcher. we tried talking to her but she was not responding.
“The doctors came out and asked about my husband. They refused to give me any answers. I quickly called my husband and brother to come.
“Then the doctors revealed a sharp metal object was lodged in her head and due to this, she has got a deep wound in her head.
“With the doctors trying to treat her, Mahi died the next day at 10.30 am after a 12-hour struggle.
“I was delighted when she waved her hand before her scan. It gave me hope. But I didn’t know that was the last bye-bye.
“Now we will live only by these memories of seeing her on a stretcher not responding to us.”
Mahi’s father, Santosh Shinde, who is originally from Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, now runs a local grocery store.
Santosh told reporters that his young daughter used to go to Garba every year in the marquee set up for this regular event and there were many people present in the tent and celebrating the Garba festivities.
This year due to her 6th-grade studies she did not go into the marquee. Instead, she was with her mother and sat on her lap.
Santosh said no one saw or heard any shots being fired during the Garba.
According to police officer SI Kamal Kishore Solanki, the incident took place near Sharda Nagar
Mahi’s treatment continued until the morning of Wednesday, October 5, 2022 morning and after 9.00 am her health started deteriorating and she sadly died at 10.30 am.
The matter is being investigated. According to the police, no enmity or dispute angle of the family has also come to the fore for the shooting.
SI Solanki said they interrogated people after the incident but no one witnessed the firing. CCTV footage of the area is being checked by police for further insight into the shooting.
According to Forensic Science Laboratory officials who are part of the investigation team, it’s possible a rifle was used but not a pistol due to the range because a rifle bullet can hit a target 300 metres away.
Therefore, in this case, there is a possibility of a fragment of the bullet shot from a rifle getting broken and hitting the victim in her head or a ricochet from a metal pole or something else that was hit by a shot fired.
There are no definite answers and the investigation team will continue to find out how or what hit Mahi’s head in this mysterious case.
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