KOCHI: The maid who was seriously injured after falling from an apartment complex in Kochi succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital on Sunday, the police said. Kumari, 55, from Salem in Tamil Nadu, had suffered head injuries in the fall on December 5.
The incident occurred at the Link Horizon apartment on Marine Drive as she attempted to climb down from the sixth floor using saris tied together. She was first rushed to the Ernakulam General Hospital and then to the private hospital where she was admitted in intensive care unit.
According to the police, her condition worsened on Saturday evening and she was put on ventilator support. She died Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Srinivas, her husband, alleged that the flat owner had kept Kumari locked up in the apartment and that he was responsible for her death.“She attempted to escape somehow from the flat and tied together saris to climb down. The mishap would have happened during this attempt,” Srinivas said on Sunday.
The Ernakulam Central police have registered a case of illegal confinement against the flat owner following Srinivas’ complaint. According to his statement, Kumari received a sum of `10,000 from Imtiaz Ahamed, the flat owner. But Imtiaz refused her permission to visit her hometown in Tamil Nadu and locked her up in the flat. He demanded that the maid give back the money if she wanted to go, the statement said.
A police team led by Ernakulam CI, S Vijay Shanker completed the inquest proceedings and shifted the body to the Government Medical College, Kalamassery, for postmortem. Meanwhile, the deceased tested positive for Covid-19, which is likely to delay the proceedings, the police said.The flat owner lodged a petition before City Police Commissioner Vijay Sakhare seeking an impartial probe into the incident, saying the maid attempted to escape through the kitchen window after stealing money from the pocket of his trousers.
The woman, having earlier worked at the same flat till December 2019, had rejoined the family only in the last week of November. The police said she tied two saris together to make a drop and appears to have lost grip while climbing down, and fell on the roof of the porch. A preliminary probe found that the woman used to sleep in the kitchen after bolting the door from inside. However, mystery shrouds her decision to take such a huge risk. Meanwhile, reports say complaints were raised against Imtiaz earlier.
The incident came to light when the family noticed that the kitchen door remained shut on the morning of December 5. They knocked on the door repeatedly in a bid to get Kumari to open it, but got no response. Later, they noticed the drop hanging from the balcony and searched on the roof of the portico. The woman was found lying unconscious and she was rushed to the hospital, the police said. She had suffered serious head injuries and multiple fractures in the fall