Gianna School Death (Bangalore) – Part 1

I believe my daughter was murdered and I have every reason to believe that. She died on 25th January 2024, at 06:09 pm. One and a half months have passed since then. I am still fighting for justice for my daughter.

On 22nd January 2024, my daughter, Gianna, went to school around 9:15 am as usual. She was studying at Delhi Preschool, which is located only 100 meters from where we stayed. That day, I was doing WFH. Hence, I had the chance to give her lunch box. After providing her lunch, I returned by 12:30 pm and resumed my work. At 2 pm, my wife received a call from Maria, an administrative staff at school. “Can you come to school, she is vomiting” – upon hearing this, I, my wife, with my younger daughter rushed to the school. On reaching there, we couldn’t find her. When we enquired the staff, we were informed that she had been taken to North Bangalore Hospital, Kalyannagar. That hospital was almost 200 meters from the school.

Gianna was admitted to the casualty. I saw that she was receiving the dressing and some medicines because she had vomited. I asked the principal, Thomas, how that had happened. “While playing, she was running around and she hit her head on the wall. After that, while lying down, she started vomiting” – this was the statement given by him as well as Maria ma’am and so by one of the other teachers. At that time, unfortunately, the hospital authorities mentioned that the paediatrics were not good enough there. So, we were referred to Baptist Hospital, a child specialty hospital in Hebbal. Gianna was taken there in an ambulance. Upon reaching there, we got to know that no ventilator bed was available. I wish we had been advised earlier. From there we were shifted to Rainbow Hospital, which was 2 km away.

In Rainbow Hospital, they did the first aid. At the time, the bleeding had not stopped; it was high from the left and back side of the head. The doctors suggested that we might need a team of neurologists to treat her. The neurology was not available in Rainbow. So, they asked us to take her to Astor CMI Hospital.

The incident with my daughter had happened at 2 pm. By the time, we reached Astor CMI, it was almost 5:40 pm. During this time, Gianna cried like hell. Whatever we did to pacify her, she didn’t listen. Upon reaching Astor CMI Hospital, they took her to the emergency. They gave the medicines. But it was then we lost her… she stopped crying and went into a coma.
The doctors in all three hospitals had the same question – WHAT HAD HAPPENED?! The school staff kept on telling the same story. The senior doctor in Astor CMI observed the wound. He might have asked the school staff, for 10 times. As per his observation, Gianna must have fallen from a minimum height of 20 feet to sustain those injuries. The doctors got a CT scan and the report said something else, that was against the story we were told. Gianna’s left side skull was broken; the socket of her left eye was broken. She was bleeding from the pancreas and liver. Except heart, everything seemed hurt and ruptured. Since the liver was damaged, the blood was not clotting. They had put her on the ventilator and provided a continuous supply of blood. The doctor suggested for MLC (Medico-Legal Case) to be raised.

Police came for an inquiry and collected our statements because of the MLC. By the evening, I had narrated the entire incident to them. After that, I thought the police would take some action. But the next day, at noon time, we got to know that we needed to submit the intimation letter so that the FIR could be lodged. I went to the police station in the evening. A FIR was filed on 24th January.

When I look back, I try to find the reasons that led to the demise of my daughter. When I try to connect the dots, I find a series of events that go back to the month of January.

We were on Christmas vacation. We reached Bangalore on 13th January 2024. We were in Kerala till then. My wife and I had pressure on us due to our project commitments. We needed an aaya (caretaker) to look after the kids in the evening and also to take care of some household chores. We were actively searching via all the channels. We had posted on Facebook and even requested the principal. The principal suggested taking the help of Kanchana. She worked in the school from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. After that, she was available from 3 pm to 10 pm. Since the principal had suggested us, we hired her. From 16th January, she started working in our household.

Part 2 : Click Here