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4-Month-Old Baby Dies After Being Assaulted by Father, Police Say

By  Julie  Shapiro Katie Honan and Nikhita Venugopal | December 25, 2014 3:50pm | Updated on December 26, 2014 11:26am

 A 4-month-old boy died after being taken to Cohen Children's Medical Center, police said.
A 4-month-old boy died after being taken to Cohen Children's Medical Center, police said.
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Flickr/Soroll

QUEENS — A 4-month-old baby died on Christmas Eve, several days after he was assaulted by his father, police said. 

Nevin Janduher was unconscious and struggling to breathe when he was rushed to Flushing Hospital from his home on Brian Crescent in Bayside about 8 a.m. Dec. 20, police said. Doctors found that Nevin's skull had been fractured in several places.

The infant's father, Jagsheer Singh, 28, was arrested later the same day and charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Singh claims that the child fell off a 4-foot-high changing table about 7:30 a.m. and only started to lose consciousness about 30 minutes later, according to a criminal complaint from the Queens District Attorney's office.

According to the complaint, Reena Malhotra, Nevin's mother, said the child was doing well before she left for work at about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 19. She did not check on her son when she returned home at 6:15 a.m. 

Malhotra fell asleep and stayed in her room until her husband, Singh, woke her up at about 8 a.m. and told her that Nevin had fallen off the changing table half an hour earlier. 

But Dr. Jamie Hoffman-Rosenfeld, who examined Nevin at Cohen Children's Medical Center, found that the "nature and severity" of Nevin's injuries were "inconsistent with the defendant's account of a short fall from the changing table."

The injuries were found to be "non-accidental inflicted trauma of abusive head trauma," Hoffman-Rosenfeld said, according to the criminal complaint. 

Nevin was in "grave condition" as of Tuesday, the Queens District Attorney's office said, according to the New York Daily News. He died on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The city medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Singh's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. The Queens District Attorney's office said if Singh's charges were upgraded, it would not happen until his next court date on Jan. 5, 2015.

Additional reporting by Radhika Marya

Editor's Note: A previous version of the story named Nevin Janduher as Nevin Jandu. It has been changed as per updated information from the Queens District Attorney's Office.