The Maharashtra Government may hand over the investigations into the case involving the suicide of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee to the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police, following a request from her mother Soma Banerjee.
In response to a letter written by Pratyusha’s mother Soma Banerjee to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking transfer of investigations from the Bangurnagar police, Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil indicated here on Friday that if need be, the State Government would hand over the case to the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police.
“We have received the letter from Pratysha’s mother. We have asked police officials to take up the case on a high priority basis and go to the bottom of it. If the need be, we do not mind transferring the case from the Bangurnagar police to the Crime Branch,” Patil said.
“I have myself spoken to the police officials concerned and have told them that a letter from Pratyusha’s mother means that her parents are not happy with the investigation and more needs to be done,” the minister said.
In her letter to the Chief Minister, Soma Banerjee alleged that Pratyusha’s boy-friend Rahul Raj Singh as solely responsible for the death of her daughter. She also complained that she was not happy with the manner in which the Bangurnagar police were investigating the case.
Among other things, Soma Banerjee said that the Bangur Nagar police, where the case has been registered, was giving a free hand to the accused to destroy the evidence.
Soma Banerjee’s letter to the Chief Minister came two days after Rahul was discharged from Shree Sai Hospital at Kandivali in north Mumbai, where he had been admitted on April 3 after complained of depression and low blood pressure.
The Bombay High Court had on April 12 granted interim protection from arrest till April 18 to Rahul Raj Singh, who has been booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of his girlfriend Pratyusha.
On April 1, “Balika Badhu” fame Pratyusha (24) was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her seventh floor flat in Harmony residency building at Goregaon in north Mumbai, She was taken by Rahul to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, where she was declared dead on admission later that evening.
Rahul, whom the investigators see as a logical suspect in the case, had come under the intense scanner of the police for his strained love relationship with Pratyusha.
The post-mortem, conducted on Pratyusha’s body, had initially ruled out any foul play in the actress’ alleged suicide. However, on April 5, the Bangurnagar police went ahead and booked registered a case against Rahul under sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
Pratyusha’s parents had last week accused Rahul of having “mentally and physically” tortured his daughter. “Pratyusha wanted to get married. But, unfortunately she met a wrong guy in Rahul. Rahul is a fraud and he has destroyed many lives. We don’t want him to harm anyone else. She was tortured mentally and physically and was very scared,” Pratiyusha’s father Shankar Banerjee had said, adding that Rahul and his father were managing Pratyusha’s finances.
“Rahul should be hanged or given life sentence and made to suffer for his entire lifetime. I have heard he destroyed many girls’ lives,” Pratyusha’s mother Soma had said.