Shikha Joshi suicide: Versova police record statement of woman who last saw actor alive

The woman, 21-year-old Pushpa Parmar, also an actor, told the police Monday that she had come to meet Joshi’s friend Madhubharti Pathan at her home in New Mhada Colony, Andheri West, on Saturday afternoon. Parmar, the police said, also knew Joshi.

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According to the police, Parmar was watching television in Pathan’s living room on Saturday when Joshi came out of the bedroom at 4 pm. “They greeted each other and spoke for about 10 minutes. Joshi told Parmar that she had not been able to find work in Mumbai and will return to Delhi permanently the same night. At 4.10 pm, Joshi told Parmar that she was going to take a bath. Joshi had been speaking to someone on her cell phone when she went out of the living room,” an officer privy to the investigation said.

Parmar, the police said, continued watching television, while also speaking to Pathan’s husband Riyaz. At 5.45 pm, Riyaz left for Malad, and at 6 pm, Pathan came into the living room and asked Parmar where Joshi was. “Parmar told us that about 10 minutes later, Pathan came back into the living room and told her that Joshi had slit her throat with a knife,” the officer said.

Parmar, the police added, then went out of the apartment and asked two neighbours (men) for help, while Pathan called Riyaz. The police said that Riyaz asked his assistant and another man living in the building to rush to his house. In the interim time, Pathan also recorded a video on her phone, where Joshi said that she had cut herself because cosmetic surgeon Dr Vijay Sharma and some married men had been troubling her.

“It was only after Riyaz arrived around 6.30 pm that he took Joshi to the hospital,” the officer said. Later on Saturday, Parmar left Mumbai for Pune. The police were alerted about her presence at the time of the incident by one of the neighbours during questioning.

“We contacted Parmar on Monday and asked her to return to town,” said Inspector Arun Hajare of the Versova police station. He added that the post mortem report from Cooper Hospital was still awaited, while the police was also trying to get in touch with Sharma.

srinath.rao@expressindia.com