Renu Singhania’s apartment block on Ballygunge Circular Road. Picture by Amit Datta

Renu Singhania, a 56-year-old homemaker, committed suicide by hanging herself in her ninth-floor apartment on Ballygunge Circular Road on Sunday afternoon.

“She was taken to Belle Vue Clinic, where she was declared dead on arrival. The body has been sent for post-mortem,” said Rajesh Subarno, the deputy commissioner of police (south).

Renu lived in the apartment at 19 Ballygunge Circular Road with husband Pradip and their two sons and their families. “The Singhanias, who run a business in jewellery and export, are well off,” said an officer.

No suicide note was found and the police are clueless what drove the woman to suicide, as they are yet to speak to the family members. “We went to the apartment but they were too shocked to react,” said an officer. The team will visit the apartment again on Tuesday.

An officer of Ballygunge police station said: “The wife of one of the sons entered the room in the afternoon and found Renu hanging from the ceiling. She raised an alarm and the other family members rushed in.”

A relative of the Singhanias said: “I was stunned to hear that she had committed suicide. I spoke to her only a couple of days ago and she did not seem depressed at all.”

Jayprakash Dikshit, who has been a durwan of the apartment block since it came up, said the Singhanias have been living there for the past 30 years. Asked about Renu, he said: “She was a nice woman and never had a problem with anyone.”