Another interfaith relationship has ended with a Hindu woman losing her life. This time, the news has come from the entertainment industry, which is often, and rightly, held responsible for many gender-related crimes.
Television and Bollywood actress Tunisha Sharma (20) was found dead under mysterious circumstances on 24 December on the sets of the TV show ‘Ali Baba: Dastan-e-Kabul’, in Mumbai. The mother of the deceased has said that her co-actor Sheezan Khan “used” and “cheated” her, and this is why she killed herself.
The mother, Vanita, has repeated the allegations in a complaint to the police.
In a video statement, Vanita can be seen saying (translation), “Despite being involved with another woman, he formed a relationship with Tunisha and continued for three-four months. He promised her marriage. He used her and then did break-up. I just want to say that Sheezan should be punished. He should not be spared.”
In the later part of the video, she also thanked the media for their support.
As per a report by Indian Expresse, Tunisha locked herself inside the washroom while shooting for the show. When police reached the spot and broke open the door, she was found hanging. She was taken to the hospital late at night, where she was declared dead.
As reported by ANI, no suicide note was recovered from the spot. Still, police are investigating the case for any possibility of murder. Police teams are questioning everyone present on the set, Waliv police of Vasai (East) told the media.
The postmortem of the body was conducted around 4:30 am at JJ hospital on 25 December. There were no injury marks on her body, the police told the media.
As per the Express report, Khan was detained on the basis of the complaint filed by Vanita. In the statement in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by her, she said that Sharma was earlier in a relationship with Khan and was upset for the past 15 days over their breakup.
Based on her complaint, police registered a case against Khan under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and arrested him. Khan was produced before a court in Vasai, from where he was sent to police custody for four days.
The NDTV and Hindustan Times reported that during the police interrogation, Khan said that they had a breakup following the ‘Shraddha Walkar’ murder case. He also cited the age gap of eight years between them, besides the fact that they were from different religious backgrounds as the reasons for breaking up with her.
ANI Quoted Khan as saying that he broke up after watching media coverage for the Sharddha Walkar murder case, and that Tunisha had attempted suicide earlier as well. At the time, he rescued her and told her mother to take special care of her.
NDTV quoted Khan as saying that he “was disturbed by the atmosphere in the country that emerged after the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walker” and hence decided to break up.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ram Kadam reportedly said, “The family of Tunisha Sharma will get justice. We will find out if the case is linked to love jihad or not and if it’s linked, then the conspirators and organizations behind it will be exposed.”
The matter looked more complicated at one point when Tunisha’s friend Rayya Labib told the media, “When I met her last, she said she was very worried about something important and serious. I did not ask her what it was, but I am sure it was about this relationship and pregnancy issue.”
Labib said, “Tunisha was madly in love with Sheezan Khan, whom she considered her boyfriend and soulmate. However, Sheezan was not serious about the relationship and considered her a very good friend or maybe a girlfriend but was not ready for marriage.”
“He maybe just considered it a fling or was flirting with her or having fun. Tunisha was very serious about Sheezan and wanted marriage,” Labib said.
No such revelations regarding her pregnancy however have been made so far by the police.
Sharma was born in Chandigarh, and was a Punjabi. She started her career as a child actor in ‘Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap’. She was also featured in Bollywood movies like Baar Baar Dekho and Fitoor.
Khan is known for his role as young Akbar in the television show ‘Jodha Akbar’. He also appeared in many other shows like ‘Silsila Pyaar Ka’, ‘Ek Thi Rani Ek Tha Raavan’, and ‘Pavitra: Bharose Ka Safar’. His sisters have also worked as TV actors.
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