TOI:Pratyusha and Rahul had smashed their window pane, says the security guard
Mumbai Mirror | Apr 4, 2016
nvestigating TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee's alleged suicide at her Goregaon home interrogated her live-in partner Rahul Raj Singh throughout the day on 2nd April, amid claims from her parents that their daughter could not have killed herself since she was a 'very strong' person.
The Bangur Nagar police recorded Singh's statement till late last evening, and he told them everything was "normal" between the couple and they were even planning to get married. He claimed Pratyusha was depressed because she was not getting good roles and he was trying to help her out.
He told the officials he had left home on Friday afternoon for a meeting, and upon returning around 5 pm, found her hanging from the ceiling in her bedroom. He rushed her to Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri with the help of a neighbour's domestic worker.
When Pratyusha was declared dead on admission, Singh informed her parents, but he reportedly disappeared from the hospital at night and went incommunicado. He met police officials only on Saturday morning, by which time Pratyusha's parents had arrived in the city from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, where they live. They met the Bangur Nagar police officials and in the evening, claimed her body, after a post-mortem had been conducted at Siddharth Hospital. Doctors, who will send her viscera samples for forensic analysis, have reserved their opinion on the cause of death until they receive the report.
At the time of handing over her remains, police officials briefly spoke to Pratyusha's parents, who stated that their daughter was "a very strong woman" and could not have ended her own life. "Pratyusha's mother told us her daughter was a fighter and would never have taken a step like suicide for any reason. She said the police should investigate the incident and find out the truth behind it," said a senior officer from Bangur Nagar police station.
So far, the police have lodged an accidental death report in the case. DCP (Zone XI) Vikram Deshmane said, "The provisional cause of death is asphyxia, since ligature marks were found on her neck. The final cause will be confirmed once all the reports are out. The statements of her parents and relatives have been recorded, and Rahul Singh's statement is being recorded."
The police said they were informed about the incident around 7.15pm on Friday, and when they arrived at Pratyusha's seventh floor apartment in Harmony building, they found it locked, which raised suspicion. Her bedroom door was also locked. Later at night, after the police team managed to get in with a duplicate key, they searched the house but didn't find any suicide note.
"Her live-in partner Rahul, who found her body, rushed her to Kokilaben Hospital. Her building's security guard told us the doors probably got locked automatically when Rahul shut them on his way out. After gaining access using a duplicate key, we searched the flat for a suicide note or any other clues, but have found nothing so far," said a police official, adding that a forensic team had visited the apartment.
As per her building's entry log, Pratyusha was visited by a friend on Thursday night but was alone for most of Friday. Only a laundryman had visited her flat in the morning, as per the register. Cops said Pratyusha committed suicide around 3pm, and Singh, upon reaching home a couple of hours later, found it locked. So he sought help from a neighbour's cook, who then jumped into their balcony and opened the door, according to Singh's statement.
Pratyusha's laptop and two cell phones as well as Singh's phone have been seized for forensic analysis. Cops have also sought the duo's call detail records to ascertain if there was any rift in their relationship, as some of their common friends claim.
Pratyusha and Singh had been living in the Goregaon apartment for the last two-three months, after shifting from Kandivali. Their neighbours said they didn't interact much with the couple but were shocked because "things seemed fine between them".
Police sources, though, found out through the couple's common friends they often had bitter quarrels and were apparently facing financial problems. "The security guards said that around two months ago, the duo had smashed their windowpane during an argument. Some of Pratyusha's friends also said their fights got violent at times. We're investigating all these angles," said a police source.
Friends and acquaintances of the couple who gathered at the hospital gave conflicting versions about Singh's disposition. Heer Patel, a TV actor, said that Singh was a "serial cheater" involved in several relationships, and duped women financially too.
"He's a small-time actor who failed in the industry and resorted to foul means to make money. I gave him a loan of Rs 25 lakh but he didn't return a rupee, and instead tried to implicate me in a kidnapping case. We have an ongoing case in the court. He has also cheated a travel agency and numerous other women. He was married to an air hostess but got divorced and never revealed it to anyone. I have all the proof against him, and am sure he harassed Pratyusha like everyone else before her," she told Mirror.
Sheetal Malviya, Singh's former business partner, said they had started an event management firm named Magnum Opus in 2010 but he duped her and disappeared. "He has been doing this to everyone. The police must investigate his background as he has duped scores of gullible women in the industry," Malviya said.
Some friends, however, said Singh had no role in the death. "I know him very well. He has never done anyone any harm. He was involved in acting, production and event management and had a cordial relationship with Pratyusha. The two were soon to get married. They met us on Holi and everything was fine between them," she said. Several other industry colleagues attested to this version of events, and counter-claimed that Singh had never married.
Pratyusha played the popular character Anandi on TV show Balika Vadhu from 2010 to 2013. She also appeared in reality shows Bigg Boss and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
