Bollywood actress Pratyusha Banerjee commits suicide ‘following split from boyfriend’

Olivia Waring

Indian actress Pratyusha Banerjee has been pronounced dead by hanging (Picture: Colors TV)

Bollywood actress Pratyusha Banerjee has committed suicide at the age of 24 – and reports are now claiming she split with her boyfriend prior to her death.
The star, best known for appearing in Indian TV show Balika Vadhu, was pronounced dead at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai last night after she allegedly hanged herself.
It was her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh who is believed to have made the initial emergency call, Yahoo reports.

Pratyusha Banerjee, left, with another actress Smita Bansal during a press conference in 2010 (Picture: Yogen Shah/India Today Group/Getty Images)

According to The Mirror, Rahul Singh gave a statement just hours after the news broke of her apparent suicide at her home on Friday.
He told police: ‘We used to stay in a two bedroom flat. We had two keys; one key was with Pratyusha and the other was with me. When I entered the bedroom, I found Pratyusha hanging from the ceiling. I got very scared.’
Singh, who apparently left the hospital shortly after her death was announced, is said to have spoken to Pratyusha on the phone shortly before she hanged herself, according to Bollywood Life.
Pratyusha’s last Instagram post, uploaded six months ago, shows her and Rahul posing together shortly before starring on Indian reality show Power Couple together.

Pratyusha’s last Instagram post was made six months ago and shows herself with boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh (Picture: Instagram)

The Times Of India claim her last WhatsApp status was: ‘Marke bhi muh na tuzse modana’ translating to ‘Even after death won’t be turning my face away from you’.
India Today claims the star had been ‘depressed’ for the last two months, but the motive for her suicide remains a mystery.
Today the world has been mourning the loss of the young actress, who won over viewers through her role as Anandi, a grown-up child bride, in Balika Vadhu – and appeared in the seventh series of the Indian version of Big Brother, Big Boss.
Her last role was in romantic TV drama Hum Hain Na, and she was signed on to host a reality-based crime show before her death.

The star with TV co-star Siddharth Shukla (Picture: Colors TV)

Stars of Bollywood have posted messages of tribute to the young actress’s death on Twitter, with some using the opportunity to draw attention to the issue of mental illness.