4-yr-old dies as dentist mom throws her off fourth floor

A four-year-old child was hurled to death allegedly by her 34-year-old dentist-mother from the fourth-floor passageway of their apartment in Bengaluru on Thursday. The mother, who is said to be under medication for depression, also tried to jump, but was saved by neighbours.

Driti Balakrishna was the daughter of Dr Sushma Bharadwaj and Kiran Balakrishna, a software engineer. The couple married 11 years ago and has been living with their daughter and Kiran's mother in a flat in Sampangiramanagar.

Police sources said Sushma claimed Driti was intellectually disabled and suffered from speech impairment. She had studied dental surgery and was unable to practise due to her daughter's health. So she decided to kill the child and end her life too. Her claims are being verified, a police officer said.

CCTV footage shows the mother and daughter coming to the fourth floor. They walk up and down the passageway and then Sushma throws Driti and looks around. She later climbs the passageway guardrails and sits there for a few seconds before screaming for help.

Kiran was working from home when Sushma told him that she was taking Driti to the terrace to play. "Driti was found in a pool of blood. We thought she had accidentally fallen," a neighbour said. Driti landed on a badminton court and was rushed to hospital and later shifted to Nimhans, where she died at night.

A month ago, Sushma allegedly abandoned her daughter in a train going to Odisha from KSR railway station, sources said. She allegedly staged a drama that her daughter went missing. With the help of railway police and NGOs, Kiran managed to trace his daughter.