Woman chargesheeted for throwing her baby girl from an apartment

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: After two months of intense investigation, the city police have charged the woman who was arrested after she allegedly threw her child from an apartment to death, in the city. A 193-page chargesheet has been submitted to the 9th ACMM court by the police against the accused Dr Sushma Bharadwaj, in the case, police said on Tuesday.

The distressing incident had taken place in August and made national headlines after the video of the woman throwing her four year old daughter went viral. Dr Sushma Bharadwaj, a dentist and a resident of Advaith apartment had married Kiran, an engineer with a major IT firm 12 years back.

After six years of marriage, a daughter was born to the couple whom they named Driti. However a couple of months ago, Sushma came to know that her daughter was born with mental disorders and wanted to get rid of her. Following Driti's death, Kiran had filed a complaint that his wife had abandoned Driti several weeks ago at a railway station.

Later he rushed to the railway station and brought Driti back. On August 5, Sushma took Driti near the apartment balcony and threw her off to the ground below. She later climbed the railings desperately screaming for help. As the neighbours pulled her to safety, the woman started crying claiming that her daughter accidentally fell off the balcony.

The entire drama was unfolded by the Sampangi Ramanagar police who scanned the CCTV footage of the incident later that day. Meanwhile . Police probe revealed that as Driti was suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Sushma and her husband had to move to Bengaluru from the UK for her diagnosis.

The police also said that Sushma had been depressed due to her daughter's condition and had been taking her to autism therapy regularly. However a medical examination conducted by doctors from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) noted that she was "fit and fine" when the murder was committed.

The medical report was attached to the chargesheet along with the CCTV footage of the incident and a report of Sushma abandoning Driti at the railway station, sources from the police told News Trail. Further development in the case is underway