Divya Bharti Birth Anniversary: Accident, Suicide or Murder? An account of '90s heroine's tragic death

On that fateful day, Bharti was entertaining her dress designer Neeta Lulla and her doctor husband Shyam at her Versova residence when her husband Sajid Nadiadwala left to meet Punkej Kharbanda to discuss some dates regarding his film 'Andolan'. 

"Divya who had already gulped a few drinks complained of being depressed. And during the course, of her conversation, with the Lullas she went into the kitchen, fixed herself a glass of white rum and sauntered back in the hall. There she switched on her T. V. set and climbed over her balcony to sit on the parapet below, her favorite place where she would often sit, relax  and nurse her drinks. But, unfortunately on that fateful day she slipped and succumbed to her destiny. Divya was rushed to R.N. Cooper hospital by Mr.V. Menon, her director neighbour who lived on the second floor and by Dr. Shyam Lulla. While Neeta, along with  Divya's  maid went to Divya's house to inform her parents and brother. Every effort was made to save the beautiful actress but nothing worked. Divya was declared DEAD ON ARRIVAL!" 

"It was around 1.30 am, there were only a handful of people present in the hospital. Probably nobody heard of the tragedy till then. Divya's mortal remains were placed on the trolley in the casualty ward. Her father, Mr. Bharti, was right next to her. He had taken the tragedy real bad. He was simply uncontrollable. 'They have killed my daughter. Burn down everything. I don't want anything, just give me back Divya,' he kept sobbing like a child. Divya's brother Kunal seemed equally shattered. Like a pillar of strength, he stood by his father, trying to console him. Later, when he just couldn't control his tears anymore he burst out, 'I shouldn't have left my loving sister behind. I was with her till ten minutes before she could jump down. She was very depressed, she told me that. But, I didn't know she would do such a thing. I don't want anything. I just want my sister back. She was just nineteen. Is that the age to die?' He kept repeating. He was then taken aside by his maid-servant."

"Apparently, Divya's mother could not be traced till three in  the  morning. At around 3:45 am. she arrived at the hospital still ignorant of the fact that she had lost her only daughter. Kunal and Mr. Bharati did turn slightly violent when they saw her. Quite strangely, they both blamed her for what had happened. But Divya's mother did not say a word. She just went towards the trolley, lifted the veil that covered Divya's face, placed her head on Divya's chest and after sometime, she walked out of the hospital. She returned later accompanied by Divya's uncle."

"Almost an hour later Sajid dashed into the hospital. The doctors on duty guided him to the lone trolley in the casualty ward. There lay his beautiful wife, dressed in  black slacks  and a black and white polka-dotted top, looking so much at peace with herself. Her hair was still soaked in blood yet Divya looked so angelic, so divine. On seeing Divya motionless, it appeared like the world had come crashing down for Sajid."

"He could not bear the shock. He literally froze for a moment and then fell on the ground with foam oozing out of his mouth. 'At first we thought he too had consumed poison and that this was some kind of a suicide pact between the husband and wife,' revealed a doctor on duty.  It was only  when they tried  to resuscitate him, Sajid started thumping violently. lt was then that the doctors realised it was a case of a heart attack.  Sajid was immediately shifted to the l.C.C.U.  (Intensive Cardiac Care Unit) of the  hospital. Apparently, he too had been suffering from hypertension and high  blood pressure. When he regained consciousness for a while, he told the doctors, 'My wife Divya is down there.They say she is dead. Please do something and try bringing her back to life'.

"When he saw a nurse preparing an injection for him, he told her, 'Please don't give me an injection. I'm allergic to calmpose or aneasthesia of any kind.'  Later he was administered some sedation and put to sleep."

"The first one to arrive from the film  industry was Pahlaj Nihalani who came with his wife and sons. One of Divya's producers, Raju Mawani also walked in with him. It was  then  that Pahlaj took charge of the entire situation. The doctors had informed him that Mr. Bharati had suffered a nervous break down and so it was he who got Divya's father admitted to the psychiatry ward of the hospital."

"By now, people from the industry had started trickling in. The Morani brothers along with their wives, Joyti - Divya's secretary's wife, Boney Kapoor, Govinda, the producers of 'Kartavya' - Rahul Gupta and Sunil Saini, Sanjay Kapoor, Saif (Ali Khan), and Kamal Sadanah were among the first few to arrive."

"The police had also arrived and they were busy recording the statements from the two eye-witnesses, Neeta lulla and her husband. Neeta's version at the police station states, 'I was not sure whether Divya had jumped down or whether she had slipped accidentally because the sequence of events was in split second.' At the time of filing in this article, the police had still not recorded Divya's maid's statement for reasons best known to them. But the strangest version came from Sajid's father who told the police that Divya and Sajid were not married. 'In fact, they were supposed to get' married after three months,' he revealed. It was really surprising and  shocking to note how people had still not matured after such a tragedy."

A very close friend of Divya had revealed to Stardust then, "Divya was very depressed that day. That's why she had cancelled her outdoor schedule to Hyderabad. In fact, that evening itself she had gone shopping to buy some stuff for the new house she was buying for herself and Sajid. After that, she went to a friend's party. She came home quite high in spirits and that's when she and Sajid had a major fight. At that time, Sajid was leavind his house to meet some distributor in the nearby Lokhandwala area. An angry Divya screamed at him. 'You come back in ten minutes or you won't see me,' she threatened. But Sajid didn't give any importance to her warning. He left. And within minutes after that, she was on the parapet. Neeta Lulla who was there was pertrified. She asked Divya to come inside. But Divya with already a few pegs down, refused. Neeta went upto her to get her back. In order to escape from Neeta's clutches, Divya Jumped down. But now I don't know wht Neeta is not disclosing all this."

Another friend of Divya's who resided in the same building had an altogether different story to tell. "Sajid and she had had a terrible fight that night. He was very upset with her about something and he was screaming at her for that. Divya who was already a few pegs down didn't know what to do. That's when she popped in some sleeping pills. Shajid was in a real panic. He immediately called up Dr. Shyam Lulla Divya's psychiatrist who had been treating her for quite a few months now. Dr. Shyam alongwith his designer wife Neeta came over to the house by around eleven p.m. Sajid and Divya were still fighting. From what I've heard, the Lullas apparently asked Sajid and Kunal (Divya's brother who was also present) to leave the house since they wanted to calm Divya down. The maid was also asked to remain in the kitched. Divya who had been drinking all along camce to the kitchen for a refill. And that was the last time the maid saw her alive. Divya went into the hall and the tragedy followed."

Stardust further went on to state, "Rumours also said that Divya and Sajid were having a lot of problems even otherwise, on the marraige front. Some say it was due to Sajid's links with the underworld that Divya coudln't stand. Others insist that Divya was too tired trying to hide her marriage and that was the main reason that was creating friction between her and her mother. She couldn't take it anymore. A few also swear that it was because of Divya's recent association with producer Vicky and her hero Kamal Sadanah that Sajid was most upset about. But, these are all theories. Nobody can pin-point what the exact problem was since despite all their problems, the couple was still so much in the love with each other"

"Later, at around six in  the morning, the doctors declared  that a postmortem would have to be done on Divya since it was a case of an unnatural death. Her body could be collected from the Coroner's Court after two, the same afternoon. It was then that the question of the funeral  arose.  Since Divya and Sajid  had  not announced their marriage formally, everyone was in a dilemma. There seemed  nobody  who  could  come ahead and take a decision."

"Then, all the elders and the well-wishers who had assembled had a hush hush meeting. And, after hearing what Sajid had told the doctors it was decided  that Divya would be buried, as per  the  Muslim rites. But it was Sajid's mother who firmly objected to it. "I know nothing  about Sajid's marriage to Divya  so how can  I give  consent?"  So Pahlaj asked Divya's mother. Mrs. Bharati, on the other hand was beyond any  differences. "

"My daughter is gone.  Now what difference does it make whether you cremate her or bury her?" she argued. The green signal for the burial was given by Divya's mom. The message was conveyed to Sajid's mother. That's when tears filled her eyes and she started crying I went ahead to console her.  I told her that Sajid was recovering. And she sternly replied, "I'm not crying for Sajid. I'm crying for my Sana (Divya's name after marriage)." And finally it was decided that Divya would be buried."

"But quite surprisingly later in the day, Mrs. Bharati had  a  change of  heart. She reponedly told Sajid's friends, 'So what if my daughter was married to Sajid? She had not changed her religion. And if she had done so, I would like to see the necessary documents. If you cannot   provide that,  Divya will  be  cremated; she stated."

"Sajid's friends were  obviously in a panic. They rushed to Sajid who had recovered by now. They asked him for the documents. But they were rudely shocked beyond belief when Sajid reportedly denied even marrying Divya. So there was no question of any conversion. This act of Sajid's irritated his friends no end. They even offered to get the nikaahnaama in an hour's time. But, Sajid stuck to his denial."

"The funeral took place on the 7th of April. Divya had been dressed like a bride with Sindoor in her maang since the ceremony was eventually performed according to the Hindu rites. Ironically a dazed Sajid executed Divva's last rites as her husband. And surprisingly, none of the senior Nadiadwalas were present. However, the pyre was lit by Divya's brother."

"Besides the fickle - mindedness of Sajid, the Nadiawalas and Divya's mother, what I found most appaling was the way the industry reacted to Divya's death. They were all more worried about themselves.  Even before a day had passed, Juhi Chawla promptly went ahead  and bagged  Divya's role from 'Laadla'.  Except for Nitin Manmohan no other producer cancelled the shootings as a  mark of respect. Also except  Hema, Babita, Karisma, Shilpa, Somy, Sangeata, Sabeeha; Kamal Sadanah, Amrish Puri, Varsha Usgaonkar, Tabu, and Sonu none of Divya's co-stars turned up for the funeral. They  were all busy shooting. Everybody had reacted as if nothing had happened. Not only that on the day after Divya's demise, Jeetendra had a  lavish party thrown at his place. Agreed life has to go on but is it too muth to expect a little bit of concern and respect for one of your own?"