Model suicide: Cops gathering evidence before filing abetment case

The Versova police who are investigating the suicide of 40-year-old model-turned-actor Shikha Joshi on Tuesday stated that they would probe whether the person named in Joshi's dying declaration - a video recording made by her friend Madhu Bharti - can be booked under abetment to commit suicide.

Since Joshi had also named a few "married men" as the reason for ending her life, the police are also probing whether she was sexually abused.

"We have so far recorded the statements of Bharti and four other persons from the building where the incident took place. Joshi's laptop has been seized for investigation. She had named a doctor in the video.

If our probe leads to concrete evidence that she was forced to commit suicide, we will register a case of abetment to suicide. We are also waiting for Joshi's brother to return from Delhi so we can record his statement. We will ask him if he suspects anyone that drove her to suicide," said senior police inspector Ravindra Pawar of Versova police station.

"Since Joshi had not been getting many assignments she would regularly visit her Delhi home. Three months ago, she had come to Mumbai and was put up at Bharti's residence. Despite trying very hard she was not getting much work. On May 24, there was a court hearing of her case. On Saturday around 4pm, Joshi had called her mother and had said that after attending the hearing she would come back to Delhi," said a police officer.

Later, Joshi went to the bathroom of Bharti's New MHADA Colony house and slit her throat. When Bharti saw her, she called her friend Anu. The duo then recorded Joshi's statement on a mobile phone. In the statement, Joshi named a doctor and said a few married men were responsible for her death. The police have seized the mobile phone on which the video was recorded.

"We are going through Joshi's call detail records to ascertain whom she was in touch with. Since Joshi had said a few married men were responsible for her death, we are probing whether she was sexually abused by anyone. We will also record the statement of the doctor she named," the officer said.

"She had been working in the TV industry for a long time and had done a few advertisements and a movie. After the death of her first husband, she married an American national, who divorced her since she did not wish to move to the US . Joshi has a 19-year-old daughter who stays with her grandmother in Delhi," said a police officer.

In 2011 Joshi had registered a complaint of molestation at Khar police station against a cosmetic surgeon. She has also been arrested for pelting stones at the doctor's office and residence in 2013.