Air hostess found dead below her flat, friends questioned

Kolkata: Mystery shrouds the death of a 23-year-old air-hostess whose body was found in a pool of blood just outside her residence at Kestopur which is just a few kilometres away from Kolkata Airport.

Police said the victim Khongsit Clara Bansha Rai was originally a resident of Shillong and she was the lead cabin attendant in Indigo Airlines.

According to an officer from Baguiati police station, it was around 4 am when some local people found Clara lying in a pool of blood on the road outside her apartment. She was wearing a black shorts and a white T-shirt. Pieces of glass beer bottle were recovered from near the body.

They informed the police. Policemen rushed to the spot and sent the body for an autopsy.

The investigating officers went up to her flat situated on the third floor of the apartment where two of her friends were asleep. One of them was her friend Ivlin Nonggram, who was also an airhostess in a private airline and the other friend was a man from North-East, who stays in the city at Gariahat. The police took both of them to the police station and questioned them to ascertain that what led to Clara's death.

Later, investigation revealed that it was Ivlin's birthday on Tuesday and all three of them had gathered at the victim's flat for a celebration. They had food and alcohol last night.

The police also spoke to local people and came to know that often many of her friends used to visit her flat and their party used to continue till early in the morning.

A police officer said that the exact reason behind her death is yet to be ascertained but they are not ruling out the possibility of falling from height as a reason behind her death.

There was no grille in the windows of her flat and there were only sliding glass panels. Forensic experts had visited the spot and collected samples.

"If she died after falling from the window of her flat, then the main task would be to ascertain whether she had jumped off or she was pushed by someone or she fell accidentally," the police officer said adding that both the post-mortem and forensic reports are quite crucial in this case and they are waiting for the same.

Two of her colleagues had visited the house on Wednesday morning after knowing about the incident.

Investigation further revealed that the victim's father Sherab Bhutia, who was also earlier attached with another airline, had bought the flat 12 years ago. He used to stay in the flat earlier. It was three years ago he had left the city and went to Shillong. Just eight months ago he had given the flat to his daughter to stay.