At least 10 friends, colleagues and co-stars of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee have offered to reveal details which could help police in the ongoing investigations into her suicide, a lawyer said here on Monday.
Lawyer Falguni Brahmabhatt said that these 10 persons know a lot of inside details owing to their closeness with Pratyusha and are ready to share the information with police.
"I have submitted a list of 10 people to the Bangur Nagar Police Station today (Monday) and they are likely to be called for giving their versions tomorrow (Tuesday)," Brahmabhatt told IANS.
However, she declined to reveal the names of the 10 friends on grounds that attempts could be made to pressurize or influence them.
Pratyusha, 24, had committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her home in suburban Goregaon on Friday evening, sending shockwaves in the glam and entertainment world.
Police questioned her boyfriend, Rahulraj Singh for entire Saturday and even Sunday after which he fell ill and was admitted to a local hospital. He is likely to be discharged by the hospital later, police sources said.
At a press conference on Sunday, a few of Pratyusha's friends, including Kamya Punjabi, Adah Khan and Vikas Gupta spoke about the probable reasons driving Pratyusha to take the extreme step.
Among them was her rocky relationship with Rahulraj, allegations of assault, unconfirmed financial issues between them and reported "torture" by his former girlfriend.
Several television industry personalities have however claimed on social media networks that Pratyusha was a strong-willed personality and they could not digest she could abruptly end her life in this manner.
Her funeral was performed on Saturday evening in the presence of a large number of industry persons and her parents, Shankar and Soma Banerjee.
SHE WAS NOT DEPRESSED, SAY FRIENDS
TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee was unhappy in her personal life, but wanted to marry and have a family of her own, her friends and colleagues from the industry have said.
Her close friends and co-workers like Kamya Punjabi, Vikas Gupta and Adah Khan in conversation with the media here, opened up about possible reasons behind the demise of Pratyusha, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her residence here on Friday.
She was taken to the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital where she succumbed.
Several fingers have been pointed towards Pratyusha's tumultous relationship with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh as one of the key reasons.
TV show producer Vikas Gupta, who had recently offered a role to Pratyusha, shared she was not at all in depression.
"She was doing very well professionally. She had no shortage of work she had earned a lot of money and her money was taken care of by Rahul. She was not in depression at all. The only problem was she was in a disturbed relationship," Gupta said at a press meet here.
Gupta also stressed that Singh "physically assaulted" the 24-year-old actress in "public".
"He had raised his hand on her and we have proof of it. It was not a great relationship. Unfortunately, we have not been called by the police to record our statements," he added.
One of Pratyusha's close friend Leena too was present at the meet, and said the 24-year-old actress had called her the night before the day she took the drastic step. Leena disclosed that Pratyusha was disturbed by Singh's former girlfriend.
"Prior to the day she committed suicide, she called me at 3 a.m., and she was crying very badly. She said, 'I can't live my life like this, and I want to come out of it'. She said she wants to fight back and wanted to come out of it. She just wanted to get married to Rahul and have a child, this was her plan," Leena said.
Leena also mentioned that Singh's former girlfriend "used to torture her (Pratyusha)".
The "Balika Vadhu" star's closest friend and actress Kamya Punjabi asserted that Singh was cheating on her.
"Pratyusha had told me, 'Rahul is cheating on me, what should I do?' She didn't want to give up on this relationship and wanted this to work," Kamya said.
It has been reported that Pratyusha's postmortem report has hinted at signs of early pregnancy. But nothing has been confirmed.
To this, Gupta stressed: "If she was pregnant, she would have been alive today. She wanted to be a mother. Let the medical report come, then let's see."
