Woman lawyer found dead in Chennai hotel bathtub; friend detained

CHENNAI: A woman lawyer was found dead in the bathtub of a hotel room in Teynampet on Monday. The police registered a case of suspicious death and detained her male friend, also a lawyer, for questioning.The deceased, Roja, 32, a native of Tiruvannamalai, was practising in Chennai. She and her friend Yashwanth Kumar, checked into a star hotel in Teynampet on Feb 15. They consumed alcohol that night. Kumar left the room the following morning. When Roja did not respond to repeated phone calls, a friend grew concerned and went to the hotel. As there was no response when she knocked on the door, she alerted the hotel staff who contacted Teynampet police. Breaking open the door, police found Roja dead in the bathtub.Her body was sent to Royapettah government hospital for postmortem examination. Her friend Yashwanth Kumar was detained for questioning. As of now, police do not have details of what transpired in the room or what caused the death. They said the cause of death would be established only after the autopsy result is analysed.