Pratyusha suicide: Police detain boyfriend Rahul for questioning

Circumstances revolving around the alleged suicide of Pratyusha Banerjee, best-known for playing Anandi in the television show Balika Vadhu, have gotten murkier. 

On Friday, the 24-year-old actress was found hanging from a ceiling fan in suburban Mumbai and was declared dead after being rushed to Kokilaben Hospital by her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh, a producer.

As per recent reports, Pratyusha’s parents have arrived in Mumbai from Jamshedpur while the police have detained Rahul, who reportedly absconded for a while before showing up to see her body on Saturday afternoon, and are questioning him.

People close to the couple describe Pratyusha’s relationship with Rahul as “deeply troubled”. A friend of the duo said that the duo had major fights over money. However, Rahul had earlier on Saturday denied reports of rift between them. Speaking to mediapersons, Rahul said that he and Pratyusha were planning to marry.

“Pratyusha was worried about work offers but I was looking after her. Reports of a rift between us are false. I was scared after I saw her body and personally brought her to the hospital. But she has left me and gone away,” he said.

Meanwhile, post-mortem report has shown ligature marks on Pratyusha’s neck. Her visceral organs have been sent for chemical analysis. As the Mumbai police are probing the alleged suicide of Pratyusha, some of her friends said things were not going well in her personal life.

“There were injury marks on her nose, under her eyes. We have taken pictures (as a proof).... police are probing domestic violence angle. We will give our statement to the police,” Pratyusha’s actress friend Kamya Punjabi said on Saturday.

Producer Vikas Gupta said he had offered a show to Pratyusha, but she was not keen to accept the offer because of the trouble in her personal life.

“She was having trouble in her personal life. She had distanced us from her so we don’t know exactly what happened. She was away from her family...we used to meet her every day. As friends, we know she was having problem,” Vikas said. 

Kamya, as well as actress Smita Bansal and Vikas also denied the reports that she had financial problems. “She was not facing any financial problem as alleged. She had never asked for money from us. She had done a reality show recently,” Kamya said.

Actress Surbhi Chatterjee, who knew Pratyusha for around 15 years, said Pratyusha was excited about her marriage with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh when they spoke a fortnight ago.

“Pratyusha was a very bold girl... she cannot commit suicide,” Surbhi said.

Filmmaker Karan Johar, while expressing grief about alleged suicide, has said her death should be taken as an alert by people who are ignorant towards condition of depression. Johar tweeted: “This is just so sad...and a wake up call to families and friends who don’t consider depression a medical condition... RIP.”

Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor also wrote on Twitter: “What a shame! Such a lovely person shouldn’t have committed suicide! Who knows the turmoil within her. RIP.”