Mumbai:
Crime seems to be making the city its haven and one more murder can be added to its ever-growing list of victims. Bidushi Dash Barde (23), a former Miss Chennai and south Indian actress was found dead in her flat in Manish Garden building, Andheri (West), on Monday night when her software engineer husband Kedar Barde returned from work.
According to Kedar's statement to the DN Nagar police, he usually leaves for work at 8 am and returns at around 9 pm. When he returned on Monday night, he found Bidushi lying in the passage of their ground floor apartment in a pool of blood, with shards of glass strewn around her body and a showcase with broken glass panels on top of her hand.
According to the police, Kedar only informed them at 9.30 pm after he took Bidushi to the hospital. The victim had sustained a deep gash to the head and had nail marks on her face and neck. Based on the post-mortem report, the DN Nagar police registered a case of murder against unidentified persons yesterday. The sleuths are currently awaiting the report on exact time of death.
"Based on the autopsy report, Bidushi had nail scratch marks across her face and neck and a deep injury on her head," said an officer from the DN Nagar police station.
The investigating officers recorded the statement of the building watchman Dharampal, who told them that he could clearly see the front door of the victim's flat as the flat is on the ground floor.
"The watchman said a man arrived at the flat between 9 and 9.30 am and left without making any entry in the visitor register. At exactly 2.14 pm the same day, another person arrived and entered his name as Fray. He knocked on Bidushi's door, but did not get any response, after which he left," said Pratap Dighavkar, deputy commissioner of police (Zone IX).
An investigating officer claims that when they checked Bidushi's mobile phone, they found over 250 SMSes, which were mostly from model coordinators, actress, directors, producers and some of her relatives. The sleuths have called up a few of these numbers in the course of the investigation.
Casting couch?A police officer said on condition of anonymity, "Most of the SMSes were about promises of roles and seeking compromise in return. We suspect that the killer might be a person related to the film industry."
Bidushi and Kedar got married in 2009 and were staying in a rented flat in Manish Garden building since the past 18 months. The police are currently trying to track down the person who allegedly came to the victim's flat between 9 am and 9.30 am on the fateful day. The twist with this lead however, is that according to phone records, Bidushi received a call at 10 am.
The police suspect that the person might have paid the victim a second visit.
Bidushi's father rushed to Mumbai from Orissa upon hearing the news and his statement was recorded, and has been made the complainant in the case.
"Kedar has not been given a clean chit. He told us that when he entered the house he saw Bidushi's hand stuck under a cupboard and he suffered a gash to his hand while getting it off her. He also said that her body was stiff," said Dighavkar.