Woman falls to death, police suspect suicide

Thiruvananthapuram: Varkha Ramhandani (63), a resident of Seasons apartment complex died on Saturday after falling from the terrace of a multi-storeyed apartment building at Kuravankonam under Museum police station limits. She is the wife of (late) Jagdish Ramchandani. Her body was found lying on the sunshade on the first floor of the apartment. Museum police registered a case and launched a probe.

Police said that the body was found around 5am and they said it might be a case of suicide. They suspect that she might have jumped from the terrace of the 16-storeyed building sometime between 9pm on Friday and 5am on Saturday.

Varkha used to live in Mumbai along with her husband. Ever since her husband died in 2014, she moved in with her brother Jagdish Kumar at Kuravankonam. They lived in an apartment on the third floor of the building.

Police have recovered an aluminium ladder from the terrace. Varkha’s brother told the police that the ladder used to be kept in her bedroom. Police suspect that she took the ladder to the terrace via elevator and used it to jump over the parapet wall.

Jagdish Kumar said that Varkha was suffering mental illness for quite some time and she was under medication. Her last appointment with the doctor was on Wednesday. She had been complaining about her ill health, both mental and physical. She also had trouble walking and used a wheelchair to move around inside her residence.

Police have recovered a suicide note from her room, in which she had allegedly written that she was committing suicide on her own will.

Varkha belongs to a family that hails from Ajmer in Rajasthan. Her parents had settled in the city seven decades ago, even before her birth. She was born and brought up here and moved to Mumbai after her marriage. She has a son, Nikhil Ramchandani, who works in London, United Kingdom. Though he was informed about the death he could not return owing to the Covid-19 situation.