Manmeet Grewal was 32. (Photo: manmeetgrewal69_official/Instagram)
TV actor Manmeet Grewal, who worked on shows like Aadat Se Majboor and Kuldeepak, committed suicide after struggling with dwindling finances amid lockdown, family friend-producer Manjit Singh Rajput said.
Grewal, who was originally from Punjab, hanged himself on Friday night at his Kharghar residence in Mumbai where he lived with his wife. He was 32.
Manjit Singh Rajput, who had known Manmeet Grewal for nearly seven years, said the actor was facing “financial crisis” and wasn’t able to earn due to the lockdown.
“He was going through a major financial issue and he was also in depression. The added pressure of not being able to repay loans amid this (no work phase) got to him. His wife is completely shocked and devastated,” Rajput told PTI.
Manjit Singh Rajput told ETimes that the neighbours, out of fear that Manmeet Grewal was suffering from coronavirus, refused to help the TV actor’s wife despite her cries for help.
Manjit said, “He looked very normal that evening, he made chutney for the dinner and then went to his room and suddenly locked it from inside. His wife, who was in the kitchen heard the noise of a chair falling and she rushed towards the bedroom and held him. She started screaming for help and even her neighbour friend who was also there started calling people to help them. The neighbours arrived upon hearing the noise but no one came forward to help or get him down. He had hung himself with a dupatta and you know in Mumbai we don’t have such big houses. He had kept a chair on the bed and climbed up to hang himself. While his wife was holding him, no one came forward to help her and were not ready to touch him or cut the dupatta. They feared that he would be suffering from Corona. She kept telling them he was not COVID-19 positive, but no one believed. In fact, everyone was busy making videos. Then finally a person came and he cut the dupatta and took him down. It was almost after two and half hours, the ambulance came to take his body. Even when the doctor came he asked his wife to pump with both her hands on his chest. He did not touch him at that point. God knows if someone would have helped his wife when she was calling for help and holding him, we would have saved his life. Who knows if he was alive then. It is the most disturbing part that people were shooting videos.”
Manjit Singh Rajput said last rites of the actor were performed on Saturday.
Manmeet Grewal was working on projects like a webseries and some commercials, which were put on hold due to the nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
(With inputs from ETimes)