Ahmedabad:As the case surrounding the deaths of two young siblings in Chandkheda gets complicated, investigators are trying to piece together clues and fill gaps in the versions of the Prajapati family over the sequence of events and the decisions they took since the alleged poisoning. While lab reports on viscera samples, which could determine what exactly killed three-month-old Raha and four-year-old Mishri, are awaited, police have reiterated that they are not ruling out slow or passive infanticide.Investigators are probing the seemingly questionable decisions taken while Mishri, and her parents, Vimal and Bhavna, were being treated for what the family is calling poisoning from contaminated batter, a police official said.The team is focusing on why Mishri, reportedly in a critical condition, was discharged from hospital even as her parents continued to remain admitted. While Vimal is being questioned, Bhavna is still under treatment. Police have also said that Raha, just three months old, could not have eaten dosa. The police official added that statements of doctors, hospital staff and other family members are being recorded to establish accountability and what actually unfolded.The Chandkheda case, which has left the entire city shocked, has revealed several layers — the family’s overall financial position, the father’s professional stability, the mother’s reported wish for a male child and inconsistencies in the grandparents’ statements — all raising suspicion of foul play. Their polygraph tests are being considered. Early in the investigation, cops ruled out contamination of the store-bought batter after questioning the shopkeeper and other customers who had purchased it from the same dairy.Investigators said they find the timeline given by the family unconvincing. According to the family, on April 1, Vimal ate dosas made from the batter he had bought earlier in the day. On April 2, Bhavna and Mishri are said to have eaten dosas from the same batter. By April 3, the family’s health deteriorated and all four were hospitalized. Raha died on April 4, Mishri on April 5. In between Bhavna is said to have returned remaining batter to the dairy claiming it had made her family ill.When the case came to light a day after Mishri’s death, the family accused the dairy of selling contaminated batter, prompting police and FSL teams to collect samples. On April 7, Raha’s body was exhumed for further investigation, and material was seized from the family’s home in Chandkheda. Earlier, traces of aluminium phosphide — a toxic pesticide — were found in the parents’ blood samples. Vimal told police he had bought ten packets of a wheat preservative, a product, police said, contains aluminium phosphide. He said eight were used and could not account for the remaining two. Bhavna’s diary entry expressing her desire for a male child also brought a gender bias angle into the line of inquiry. “Only after forensic findings will we be able to draw firm conclusions,” an officer said, adding that all angles, including deliberate harm, are being examined.
