An 18-year-old girl, who checked into a five star hotel in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar with her boyfriend of 10 months on Wednesday, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Thursday evening, police said.
Preliminary investigation suggests that there is no injury mark on the body of the girl, identified as Neelima, who finished her Class XI from Open School and was employed with a beauty parlour in South Delhi and lived at her relative’s home in Chanakyapuri area.
After coming to know about the incident, the forensic team of the Delhi Police rushed to Hotel Holiday Inn to inspect room no 1137 where Neelima was living with her boyfriend Uday, a resident of Delhi’s Shahdara.
Police detained Uday and questioned him to know the sequence of the event that led to death of the girl, who belonged to Uttarakhand.
Speaking to the media, the girl’s mother said she was in depression as Uday had refused to marry her.
Senior police officers involved in the probe said they have not got anything so far to suggest that there was any foul play because the room was locked from inside and her friend had gone home for some urgent work.
However, the incident is being probed on all possible angles involving drug overdose and suicide as forensic experts did collect some suspicious substance that could be a drug or poison. The substance has been sent for testing.
They had checked into the hotel room and submitted their identity cards as proofs, said the official, adding that around 4.30 pm, the male friend left, saying his father was unwell and was admitted to a hospital.
He told her that he would come on Thursday and she should wait for him in the hotel room, he said.
According to police, her male friend tried to contact her on her mobile phone but did not get any answer. He then called the hotel authorities and asked them to check on his friend.
When the hotel staff reached the 11 floor room, they found it to be locked from inside. The hotel staff found Neelima lying in an unconscious state inside the room. Alarmed over her condition, they rushed her to nearby hospital for the treatment. The doctors at the hospital declared her dead on arrival.
The victim’s brother-in-law said the boy had allegedly called Neelima on her mobile phone and had asked her to accompany him to the hotel. He further stated that after a couple of hours the family received a call from the hospital and said Neelima has been admitted in a hospital. “When we reached the hospital, she was already dead,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pankaj Singh said they are waiting for the girl’s autopsy to ascertain the exact cause of death. The autopsy was conducted at lal Bahadur Shastri hospital on Friday.