Model told sister she was ‘going away’

‘You killed me Gautam Vohra’ reads a piece of paper found in model Viveka Babajee’s Khar (West) flat.

The 37-year-old committed suicide on Friday, turning on the gas before she hung herself from a ceiling fan.

The note, one of many found scattered across the living room of her fifth-floor, two-bedroom flat, names her boyfriend of a few months.

The police found it on Friday, lying on top of a diary on a corner table. Viveka reportedly had a tumultuous relationship with Vohra, who is believed to be a stockbroker from Napean Sea Road.

Police officials are currently trying to trace his whereabouts and question him, but he has been missing from both his flat and his place of work.

Police officers investigating the case told HT on Saturday that they believed constant fights between Babajee and Vohra had plunged the former into depression. Her sister’s account of a recent telephone call seems to bear this out.

“Just a few days ago, Viveka had an emotional talk with her sister Vinita Parekh,” a police source told HT. “Viveka told Parekh she was ‘going away’, and asked Vinita to take care of everybody.”

The police also added that Babajee was taking sleeping pills and anti-depressants regularly.

“An initial examination of her body by medical and forensic experts has revealed that she also smoked at least 30 cigarettes a day,” the source said.

The medical exam has also revealed that the model, best known for her KamaSutra condom and Live-In jeans ads, committed suicide nearly eight hours before her body was found.

Her door was broken down by the fire brigade and the police after neighbours reported a gas leak and said she had not responded to repeated knocks on the door and calls to her cellphone.“When we finally got in, the whole house was smelling of LPG. She had turned on the gas before she hung herself,” said a police officer.

Meanwhile, a former boyfriend, writer-director Rohit Jugraj, has reportedly told the police that the model was not prone to depression.

“I still cannot believe she’s gone,” he told Hindustan Times, refusing to comment further.

First Published: Jun 27, 2010 00:47 IST