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Journalism of Courage
A former bar girl allegedly committed suicide yesterday at her Goregaon house in suburban Mumbai, police said today.
Details of what allegedly drove Meena Raju, 35, to hang herself from the ceiling fan are unclear but police said a number of dancers have been in a bad way after the Maharashtra Government banned dance bars on August 14.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Karale said a suicide case was registered at the Goregaon Police Station after Meena’s body was found.
No suicide note has been found and no one has stepped forward to claim her body. Meena, an alcoholic who was working as a bar girl for the last 11 months, lived alone.
Sitabai Sonavi, a neighbour, reported the incident to the police around 7 am. Prahlad Jadhav, another neighbour, said police took away the body at 10 am to Cooper Hospital for a post-mortem.
According to Meena’s landlord, Rajinder Sadabe, “She was originally from a village in Karnataka and had been living in this room for the last 11 months. She did not have anyone in her family.”
The former bar girl’s neighbours said they did not know why Meena would attempt suicide but one of them said that she had turned pensive after the ban on dance bars came into effect.
Investigating officer Shailesh Kale said his team was working on the case.
