Mumbai: The mother of actor Anjali Srivastava, who was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her Andheri residence on Monday, has told the police that Anjali was happy till two days before she was found dead, and that she could not fathom why Anjali might have taken such an extreme step.
Anjali, who acted in Bhojpuri films and Hindi television serials, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of the living room of her rented apartment on Monday afternoon. She is believed to have killed herself some time between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon. The D.N. Nagar police are investigating to pinpoint the motive behind her extreme step.
According to police sources, Anjali’s mother, Sheela Srivastava, reached Mumbai from her home town Allahabad on Monday night, and went straight to the D.N. Nagar police station.
“Ms. Srivastava has said in her statement that she was in touch with Anjali every day, and that she had last spoken to her on Saturday. Anjali had told her she was perfectly happy and that everything was well with her. She added that Anjali was her normal self when her parents had come to Mumbai to celebrate their wedding anniversary last week,” said a police officer.
The officer added that Ms. Srivastava was unable to come up with any reason why Anjali would want to end her life.
Meanwhile, the investigating team found several photographs of a young man during a search of Anjali’s residence on Monday. The man is also an Allahabad native and stays in Mumbai. While not connected to the film industry, the man came to know Anjali through mutual friends. The police suspect that Anjali was in love with him.
“Anjali had told her family about the man, but they did not approve of him. We are making inquiries with the man to verify whether they were in a serious relationship, and whether there had been any problems between them,” another officer said.
A closed circuit television camera mounted near Anjali’s flat by her next-door neighbour shows her entering her residence on Saturday afternoon. That was the last time she was seen outside her house.
The police have registered an accidental death report as of now, and are conducting inquiries to check if there are grounds to register an abetment to suicide case against anyone.