Gone too soon! Actresses whose deaths still remain a mystery

From the silver screen's radiant stars to the troubled geniuses behind masterpieces of the canvas or the stage, celebrity suicides often leave a lingering cloud of mystery and speculation. In these instances, their passing becomes a narrative entwined with their fame, forever capturing the public's fascination. There have been many sudden deaths that shook the entire nation in the recent past. These tragic celebrity deaths and the mystery surrounding them often make us wonder whether all the glamour and fame is actually worth it.

Popular actor Pallavi Dey was found dead in her rented flat in Kolkata’s Garfa area on May 15, 2022. The 25-year-old promising actor who was playing the female lead in a leading TV serial, was found hanging from a ceiling fan, with police claiming that prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide. Dey’s family, however, raised the suspicion that she may have been murdered. Later, her live-in partner Sagnik was arrested. The mysterious death had sparked controversy.

Pallavi’s death was mourned by another model-actress Bidisha De Majumder. In a Facebook post, she had said. “What is this? I cannot believe it, Pallavi Dey.” Irony is Majumder, who had expressed grief over the death of Pallavi, committed suicide 10 days later on May 25. Her body was recovered from her flat in the Dum Dum area. Several media reports suggested that a sour relationship was the cause of Bidisha’s suicide. One of her friends later claimed that the actress was depressed over her ‘dysfunctional relationship’ with her ‘boyfriend’.

This budding actress became the victim of the dark alleys of celluloid in 2018. Payel was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Siliguri hotel, North Bengal. The actress who is originally from South Kolkata checked into a hotel near Siliguri Church Road. According to the hotel authorities, she was supposed to leave for Gangtok next morning. But there was no trace of her leaving the hotel on the next day and her room was also locked from inside since her arrival. The hotel authorities had to inform the local police as there was no response from her even after repeated knocks on the door. Later, the local police found her body and sent it for post mortem. The budding actress was supposed to play a key role in a Bengali film ‘Kelo’. She also had a brief appearance in Dev starrer ‘cockpit’ (2017). The talented actress had also worked in some TV serials.

The city was in shock in 2017 when a semi-decomposed body of a young actress Bitasta Saha was discovered from her flat in Kasba. The actress made her debut in ‘Banchha Elo Firey’ (2016), a sequel to 1980 Bengali hit ‘Bancharamer Bagan’ and had a few other film offers at the time of her mysterious death. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling. Following repeated unanswered phone calls for two days, her mother visited the flat where Bitasta used to stay alone. Police investigation revealed one of Bitasta's wrists was slit and injury marks were also visible on her body. Bitasta’s family later booked an FIR at Gorfa police station claiming she had an alleged affair with an income tax officer.

Mahua Roychowdhury who died in a Calcutta hospital on July 22, 1986 after battling for almost 10 days with third-degree burns made an even bigger splash with her tragic death than at any phase in her successful career. Police investigation that time had a doubt whether she suffered the burns due to bursting of a stove, as her husband Tilak Chakravarty testified. And the suicide theory even fell flat on its face because of the lack of tangible information about the motive for such an action. Many believe it was actually a murder. Mahua’s husband testified he and his wife returned from a party at the next-door flat of film director Anjan Chowdhury at midnight when it all happened. Mahua, as said by Chakravarty, had lighted up the stove when it burst and engulfed her in fire. But his statement didn’t actually square with the fact that the stove was discovered intact by the police later on.

In June 2022, a popular Odia actress Rashmirekha Ojha was found hanging at her rented home in Bhubhaneswar, with her father alleging that her live-in partner, Santosh Patra, was behind his daughter’s death. However, the actress left behind a note stating that no one was responsible for her death.