Foul Play?

TV producer Suhaib Illyasi of India’s Most Wanted fame now regrets being the celebrity host of a part-fictionalised crime serial. His wife Anju’s mysterious death in the couple’s East Delhi apartment last week has brought the self-styled crime buster under sharp focus even as he claims that his wife committed suicide by stabbing herself in a fit of rage.

The explanation given by Suhaib that an "over-obsessed" fan, Narender Chadha, was the cause of the strains in his relationship with his wife leading to her suicide has, in fact, raised more questions than it has answered. Suhaib had met Chadha while waiting for a visa outside the US embassy in the capital some months ago and soon after, the star-struck fan started showering the television producer with expensive gifts in a bid to get closer to him. Apparently, Anju resented Chadha’s "close relationship" with her husband.

According to Suhaib, Chadha was so obsessed that he had threatened to take his life when Illyasi began ignoring him. "He even carries a blade in his wallet," says Suhaib. Once when the TV star refused to take a locket as a gift from Chadha, the infuriated fan sent the locket back to Suhaib soaked in his blood.

As it turned out, the last argument between Suhaib and Anju was sparked off when Chadha sent yet another gift to the TV star on the occasion of Id-ul-fitr. The couple had a fight on the night of January 10. Suhaib says Anju threatened to shoot herself with his revolver but he snatched it back from her. After unloading it, he put it under his bed. But his wife’s suicidal fit did not subside. Around 11.30 pm on the same night, she went to the kitchen and allegedly stabbed herself twice with a sharp-edged imported kitchen-knife.

Fifteen minutes later, Suhaib told the two personal security guards deployed outside his apartment that "madam ki tabiyat kharab hai, unko nursing home le kar jana hai (madam is not well, she has to be taken to the nursing home)". Anju was taken to Virmani Nursing Home but the doctor there referred her to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where she was declared brought dead.

Suhaib now regrets getting so angry with Anju and not apologising to her. "Had I asked Chadha to lay off, she wouldn’t have done this...I have paid the price of being a celebrity," says the well-connected TV producer.

The police as well as forensic experts have so far refrained from making a definite statement on the cause of the death. Even the doctors who conducted the autopsy have not come out with a conclusive report. The doctors have criticised the police for their initial handling of the case. They say the police officers were holding the knife with bare hands, thereby spoiling the traces essential for forensic analysis. They will preserve Anju’s viscera for analysis and examine pictures of the crime scene before pronouncing the outcome of the post-mortem report.

However, investigators are also examining certain other angles to what is increasingly becoming a mysterious death. These are:

Even though Anju’s parents say they believe Suhaib’s version of what transpired on January 10, they are not ready to accept that Anju committed suicide. They wonder why a strong woman like Anju - who always "got what she wanted" - should kill herself.

Suhaib did not inform the police immediately after the incident. The constable on duty at AIIMS was the first to be told of it - and that too only when Anju was admitted to the hospital.

Dr Virmani has said that Anju could not be admitted to his nursing home because she had already lost a lot of blood and he did not have blood transfusion facilities in his nursing home. This contradicts Suhaib’s initial statement that he did not see blood oozing out of Anju’s stomach. In fact, he said there was very little bleeding.

Initial police reports suggest that some blood stains were found in the bathroom, indicating an attempt to wash away the blood.

Also, experts say that stabbing is the most unusual mode of suicide. And even when a knife is used, normally the first stab wound is superficial because anyone will be, by reflex, hesitant while wounding him/herself. It is usually the second stab which cuts deeper. What is baffling experts is that in this particular case the first stab wound is around 4 inches deep, whereas the second one is superficial.

Meanwhile, the police is waiting for the post-mortem report before arriving at any definitive conclusion. Joint commissioner (northern range) R.K. Niyogi told Outlook: "We are investigating the case with an open mind and nothing can be said until the conclusive post-mortem report is available. We are waiting for the sub-divisional magistrate’s report".

Perhaps that will help clear the mystery.