Actor-singer found dead in her flat, husband arrested

Gurgaon: Bidisha Bezbaruah, a 27-year-old singer-actor from Assam, was found dead inside her ninth floor Gurgaon flat, hanging from a ceiling fan with a dupatta tied around her neck, on Monday evening.

Police believe she committed suicide and have arrested her husband, Nisheeth Jha, on charges of abetment after Bidisha’s father accused him of having an extra-marital affair. Earlier the same evening, Bidisha’s father said she had called him to say that she would seek a divorce.

Bidisha had moved to Gurgaon recently with Nisheeth and had joined advertising and PR agency Publicis Communications’ Udyog Vihar office just two weeks ago. Bidisha was an accounts executive. Nisheeth, who is originally from Gujarat, works for AFCONS India. They got married on April 28 last year.

Friends and acquaintances said Bidisha had also made a fleeting appearance in a recently released Bollywood movie, in a dance sequence. She was, however, more wellknown in the Assamese TV industry, where she acted in serials and was also a playback singer.

Police said Bidisha’s body was discovered around 7.30pm on Monday by a property dealer who broke into her flat (number 91) at Sushant Apartments in Sector 43, along with some neighbours, after Nisheeth got in touch with him when she did not respond to his phone calls.

Nisheeth was, at that time, in Mumbai on work. Police believe they earlier had an argument over the phone. Bidisha had moved into the rented 2BHK flat at Sushant Apartments only this Sunday, a police officer said. Her father Aswini Kumar Bezbaruah alleged Nisheeth was seeing someone else, which pushed his daughter to suicide. In his police complaint, Aswini said, “She was not happy in her marriage and things turned worse in the last few months. It was around 9pm on Monday when I received a call from the police that my daughter was found hanging in her flat. On the same day, she had called me around 5pm and said she wanted a divorce. I asked her to be calm, but she refused to listen and disconnected the phone call, saying ‘let me take my own decision’. I immediately called up her husband in Mumbai, asking him to be with her, but he flatly refused. After a few hours, we got this unfortunate news.”

Aswini said Bidisha had also told her mother Ranjita and brother Kaushik as well as some of her friends about Nisheeth’s affair. “We want severe punishment for her husband,” he said.

Bidisha completed her schooling at Nichols in 2007. She graduated in English from Cotton College in Guwahati. She then did a diploma in mass communication and subsequently a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi.

An FIR has been registered against Nisheeth under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC at Sushant Lok police station. “A property agent informed us about her suicide. We have handed over her body to the family after a post-mortem,” said Gaurav Phogat, the SHO.

Deepak Saharan, DCP (east), said, “The husband of the victim reached Gurgaon on Tuesday afternoon and we arrested him.” Publicis refused to comment, saying a police probe was on. However, the company’s HR head told TOI she had worked there about two years ago too, “and then apparently moved to Mumbai and got married”.

Sushant Apartments RWA president Atul Dev said, “The broker found the house locked from inside. He called the guards and they broke the door open. There was not a single piece of furniture in the house. All the cartons were still packed.”


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