A 30-year-old model-turned-actress committed suicide in her home in Andheri West on Saturday evening after slashing her neck open with a knife. The police said that a continued lack of employment led her to take her own life.
The deceased, identified as Shikha Joshi, lived with a friend in a housing society in New Mhada Colony in Andheri West and had arrived in the city from Delhi two months back. Shikha had worked in critically acclaimed Bollywood film BA Pass (2012) along with Shilpa Shukla.
At 6.30 pm on Saturday, the police said, Joshi locked herself inside the bathroom, taking a knife along. “A few minutes later, the roommate knocked on the bathroom door asking Joshi to come out. The roommate asked Joshi why she was taking so long inside. When the door opened, her neck was covered in blood,” said Ravindranath Pawar, senior inspector, Versova police station.
He added that roommate rushed Joshi to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Four Bungalows, where she was declared dead. “On the way to the hospital, Joshi was conscious and able to talk. When the roommate asked why she cut herself, Joshi said that she was frustrated because she could not get any work.”
According to Pawar, there were three small marks on Joshi’s neck, apart from a large cut. “The smaller marks indicate her first attempts at committing suicide. They also show that a person gets cold feet at the last minute before finally committing the act. Had she been attacked by someone with a knife, there would be only one long cut. The nature of the cuts on the neck makes us believe that this is a suicide,” he said.
A case of accidental death has been registered at Versova police station. Pawar said that Joshi had been part of small roles in television shows in the past but did not have consistent work this year.
