"there were multiple contradictions in her statements."
An Indian mother identified as 27-year-old Shanti Devi was arrested for the murder of her baby son.
The Uttar Pradesh resident threw her three-month-old son from the fourth floor of the Trauma Centre at King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow.
Police have said the incident happened on Monday, July 22, 2019. According to the initial investigation, Devi was upset over her child’s ongoing illness.
The baby was born at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur on April 23, 2019. Shortly after his birth, he was diagnosed with jaundice and doctors referred him to KGMU after his liver condition deteriorated.
Dr Sandip Tiwar, spokesperson for KGMU said the child had been undergoing treatment for jaundice since May 26, 2019, and was recovering.
He explained that the baby was born prematurely and weighed just a kilogram at birth.
Dr Tiwar added that the statements of the hospital staff and other patients implied that the child’s mother was upset with his ongoing illness and seeing him suffer.
The Indian mother had been alone with her child. Her husband and brother-in-law were at home sleeping when the incident happened.
The incident came to light when Shanti raised an alarm stating that her child had been stolen from the hospital.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vikas Chandra Tripathi received reports of kidnapping from the hospital and quickly arrived at the scene.
When officers spoke to the woman, she claimed that her baby had gone missing from the ward and even accused some of the staff members of stealing her child.
ASP Tripathi said: “The woman was rigorously quizzed as there were multiple contradictions in her statements.
“Moreover, she had been spotted carrying the child in her lap at around 5 am in the CCTV footage inside the Trauma Centre building.
“She later confessed to have thrown the child from the window of the neo-natal intensive care unit on the fourth floor.”
“She said she was deeply troubled with his suffering.”
Shanti’s confession was confirmed when police officers saw CCTV footage of the mother throwing the child off the balcony.
The Indian mother was soon arrested and taken into custody.
ASP Tripathi said the woman was charged with murder and concealment of crime under the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of her husband Rajan Singh.
He concluded that the child’s body was sent to have a post-mortem conducted while further investigations were underway.