Two-year-old girl falls from balcony, dies

PUNE: A two-year-old girl died after falling from the balcony of her ninth floor flat at Metropolitan Housing Society along the Link Road in Chinchwad on Tuesday evening.
The girl, Anika Tomar, was alone in the balcony when she fell around 5pm. Her mother, six-month-old brother and grandparents were in the flat.

Senior inspector Vitthal Kubade of the Chinchwad police said the balcony has railings. “We suspect that the girl may have climbed on the railings and fell after losing her grip,” he said.

“Security guards and some residents heard a loud thud and found Anika lying unconscious on the ground. Other residents alerted the family and the police. The girl was taken to hospital where she was declared brought dead,” Kubade said.

The girl’s father, Devavrat, is a software engineer with a Ranjangaon-based private company while the mother is a homemaker. Anika also has an older sister aged 9.

“The family members have not given any statement to the police as they are in a state of shock. We will record their statement after some days. For now, we have registered a case of accidental death,” Kubade said.

Recent cases

February 19, 2018 : A 21-year-old final year engineering student, Anupam Vilas Patil, fell to his death from the 13th floor balcony of his friends’ rented flat in an upscale housing complex in Balewadi. The accident happened when Patil and his four friends had gathered for a late night party.

November 12, 2017 : A two-and-a-half year old girl died on Sunday after she fell from the terrace of her seventh floor residence in Shantinagar Society near Gangadham in Kondhwa. The glass railings of the terrace were removed for some construction work when the accident happened.

March 9, 2017 : A three-year-old girl died after falling from the open balcony of her house on the seventh floor of a building in Karishma Society off Karve Road in Kothrud, just a day after celebrating her birthday. The accident happened around 7.30am when the child was alone in the flat. Her mother had left home for work around 7.15 am. Her father, had gone down to drop his elder daughter off at the bus stop of her school bus.

January 10, 2017 : A 50-year-old housewife, who had gone to see a sample flat at an under-construction skyscraper at Paud Phata, died after she fell from the ninth floor of the building in evening.