'Autopsy on BJP MLA'S wife being done'

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police said on Monday that they were conducting an autopsy on the body of Padmapriya, wife of Karnataka's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Raghupathi Bhat, who was found dead in a Delhi apartment on Sunday.

Padmapriya's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a flat in Kshama Apartments in Dwarka Sector 10. Police suspect Padmapriya committed suicide, though no suicide note was found.

But only the post-mortem would confirm if it was indeed a case of suicide, senior police officers said.

The Karnataka police first reported on Friday that Padmapriya was missing from Kunjargiri near Udupi, in western Karnataka, since June 11 after her car was found abandoned, with her mobile phone SIM card and some broken bangles.

Udupi is about 70 km from Mangalore on the west coast and about 300 km from Bangalore.

After the Karnataka police got to know that she was in Delhi, a two-member police team was flown in Sunday to trace her with the help of Delhi Police. By the time the teams located her, she had committed suicide.

After the autopsy and completion of formalities in Delhi, police said the body would be handed over to Padmapriya's family.

Bhat, 39, was re-elected from the Udupi constituency in the state assembly election last month. The couple has two sons.