Pallavi Dhawan out on $50,000 bail.
By Abraham Thomas
FRISCO, TEXAS: The Collin County Medical Examiner’s office has ruled that Arnav Dhawan, 10, died of natural cases, but in a travesty of justice, the Frisco Police Department continue to hold his mother, Pallavi Dhawan, 38, as the murderer.
Arnav was born with a brain cyst and microcephaly, a condition characterized by a smaller than normal head circumference. A 2004 letter from the pediatric neurosurgeon stated that he suffered a brain cyst that could trigger seizures. Pallavi let go of her career to take care of him at home.
According to Pallavi, she found her son dead in bed on the morning of January 25th of this year. Her husband, and Arnav’s father, Sumeet, was traveling and out of town. She didn’t call emergency services, but instead bathed, dressed, and laid her son in the bathtub surrounded by bags of ice in plastic bags – to preserve the body so her husband could do the religious rites when he got back, according to Hindu customs. When Sumeet came home four days later, and heard what happened, he called the police.
When the police questioned Pallavi, she replied ‘yes’ to whether she had killed her child. She was immediately arrested, and jailed. She was later released on $50,000 bail.
Now, the Medical Examiner’s report, released last week, has confirmed what many have suspected all along: Arnav died of his medical condition; Pallavi is innocent of the charges.
The report concluded that disease is the most likely cause of death, but added the decomposition of the body made diagnosis difficult. ‘The unusual circumstances cannot be ignored, thus raising the possibility of an unnatural cause of death’, it said.
However, the Frisco police have refused to comment on the report, and have yet to drop the charges of murder against Pallavi.
A Dallas Morning News report quoted Sumeet as saying: “This was a misunderstanding from day one,” and questioning the police on not dropping the charges: “We don’t understand why they would lag it.”
The report said the medical records of the boy were seized under a police search warrant. When the Dhawans tried to get them back, hoping to provide an explanation for their son’s sudden death, police wouldn’t release them.
The attorney of the Dhawans, David Finn, has been critical of the police handling of the case, calling them “bullies”.
“Note to Frisco PD: The best way out of that hole you’ve dug yourself is to stop digging,” Finn had posted on a news story about the case, reported the News.
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