Banerjee’s father and mother come out of the mortuary Saturday. (Source: Amit Chakravarty)
A day after she allegedly committed suicide, the Mumbai Police took the boyfriend of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee in custody for questioning. He was, however, let off later in the day with investigators almost ruling out foul play.
Rahul Raj Singh, who had been living with Banerjee, had rushed her to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Andheri West at 5 pm on Friday after allegedly finding her hanging from a ceiling fan in their Goregaon home.
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He told the police that he had first gone home to meet Banerjee at 1.50 pm and returned at 2.15 pm.
“Singh returned and found the door locked from inside. After several minutes of trying to get the door to open, he went back and fetched a keymaker to force open the door. Singh then asked a passing servant to climb onto the balcony and look in through the window. The servant saw Banerjee hanging from a ceiling fan,” said a senior police officer.
On Saturday afternoon, the police recorded the statements of Singh, his mother, the parents of Banerjee who had taken an early morning flight from Jamshedpur, and a few friends, even as the post-mortem was being conducted at the civic-run Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon West. The investigation is being conducted under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which gives the police power to question individuals while probing a case of suicide.
An officer close to the investigation said Banerjee’s parents had said in their statements that they did not suspect Singh to be responsible for the death. “They did not express any suspicion or claim any foul play. We are treating it as a case of suicide,” the officer said.
Banerjee’s parents reached the hospital at noon and the autopsy began half-an-hour later. According to a statement released by the police on Saturday evening, the procedure was photographed and videographed.
A panel of doctors from the forensic department, the police said, pronounced the preliminary cause as ligature marks on the sides of the neck, that hinted towards asphyxia.
The final cause of death has been reserved and the viscera of the body has been sent to the Kalina forensic science laboratory for an analysis.
The police have also seized two cellphones belonging to Banerjee and Singh from his possession and are attempting to establish who she spoke to last before her death.
A senior police officer said, “Banerjee had been depressed and out of work since March last year. We will be speaking to more of her close friends to try and establish what made her take this drastic step.”
Earlier in the day, soon after her parents arrived, Singh was brought to the hospital in a police car.
The post-mortem ended at 3.30 pm, and a large number of Banerjee’s colleagues in the television industry, who had been weeping and consoling her parents, were herded away as doctors prepared the report.
At 5 pm, Banerjee’s body was wheeled out on a gurney and placed on a stretcher which was laid on the ground and covered with a white sheet and flowers.
But even as the body was taken away in an ambulance and driven to a crematorium in Oshiwara, attracting a huge crowd of onlookers outside the hospital, Singh was questioned by the police in a room on the floor above the autopsy centre.
Actor Sahila Chadha, who was among the few to speak out in Singh’s support, was not allowed by the police to meet him. “I refuse. I refuse,” Bangur Nagar Senior Inspector Santosh Bhandare told Chaddha, as a tense stand-off ensued.
At 6.30 pm, the police drove Singh away and took him to the police station. Visibly scared and surrounded by cops, Singh did not answer any question.
Neeraj Gupta, a lawyer who has been roped in to represent Singh, dismissed talk of fights between the couple or of any financial trouble. “They were living their lives happily and there was no problem between them. Singh is cooperating with the police, and wants the truth to come out. He should not be declared a culprit at this stage. Let the police investigate the case and find out the reason behind the suicide,” he said.
Another officer said there were frequent quarrels between the couple but Banerjee’s family was aware of it.
Two months ago, Singh reportedly took Banerjee to Kolkata to the naming ceremony of his niece and introduced her to his family and got permission for their marriage.
Among the witnesses whose statements were recorded was the cook who entered the house on Friday. “The presence of an eyewitness at the discovery of the body rules out murder,” the officer said.
Late on Saturday, Singh’s father Harshvardhan Singh arrived at the police station.
He claimed that the couple was happy, and two months ago, had sought permission from him to get married.
Later, Rahul Raj Singh was allowed to leave Bangur Nagar police station a little before 11 pm.
