Ahmedabad: Police investigating the deaths of two sisters, three-month-old Raha and four-year-old Mishri Prajapati, are treating the case as a suspected double murder driven by a desire for a male child, officials said. The deaths were initially attributed to contaminated dosa batter, but that theory was ruled out as no one else who bought the same batch of batter reported falling ill.Police have turned their attention to four family members: the girls’ parents, Vimal and Bhavna Prajapati, and their paternal grandparents, Gaurishankar and Kusum Prajapati. According to senior officials, inconsistencies in the grandparents’ statements have prompted police to consider lie-detection tests. Earlier, cops recovered a diary in which Bhavna expressed her wish for a son and pledged a temple visit if her wish came true. “Investigation into the death of the three-month-old is proceeding in the direction of infanticide,” a police official said. He added that investigators are awaiting the FSL postmortem report, after which a case will be filed. The toxicology tests found aluminium phosphide, used in insecticides and rodenticides, in the parents’ blood samples, after which the probe shifted towards a possible mass suicide attempt or intentional poisoning.“We questioned Vimal and found that he bought 10 packets of a wheat preservative that contains aluminium phosphide. He used eight but could not say where the other two packets went,” the officer said.Vimal had bought around 3kg of dosa batter from a dairy on IOC Road on the evening of April 1. The family ate dosas that night and reported vomiting and uneasiness the next morning. Raha and Mishri died on April 4 and 5, respectively. The officer said Vimal’s parents were also questioned after police learned the family had frequent quarrels over money.
