Kathleen

Calcutta, October 11: A 38-year-old American woman was found dead this morning in the south Calcutta flat of a DJ she had befriended over a social networking site.

The lady has been identified as Kathleen Mary ’Bryan, who reached Calcutta from Japan. “The cause of her death will be known only after the autopsy,” said detective department chief Damayanti Sen.

A forensic surgeon at SSKM Hospital, where Kathleen’s body was taken for post-mortem, said death may have occurred because of an overdose of pills. “The final report can be prepared only after examining the viscera,” the surgeon said, adding that no injury marks were found.

The police have handed the pills and some prescriptions, written in Japanese, found in the room to forensic officials. “As of now, we are ruling out foul play,” said an officer of Gariahat police station.

Kathleen, who was working in Tokyo since divorcing her Japanese husband, reached Calcutta on October 7, the police said. After spending two days at a south Calcutta guesthouse, she moved to the first-floor flat of friend Rohan Prakash Yellore at Aman Kalyan apartments in Hindustan Park.

Rohan had taken Kathleen to the guesthouse but she later shifted to his house apparently because she could not afford the place. “It looks like she came to the city from Tokyo to meet Rohan, whom she had befriended on a social networking site,” an officer said.

Rohan — introduced as a “producer, audio engineer and DJ” in his Facebook profile — left the city for Mumbai last year after a brief stint as a disc jockey with a night club on Ballygunge Circular Road.

“Rohan, his parents and Kathleen were in the flat last night…. He last saw her around 11pm, after which he went to sleep in his parents’ room. His parents woke him up this morning and told him that Kathleen was dead. He is in shock,” a friend said.

The police said a domestic help saw the body lying in Kathleen’s room, the door to which was ajar. The body lay on the floor in such a manner that most of it was in the bedroom while the head was jutting into the bathroom.

“I have seen them (Kathleen and Rohan) walking down the lane together. She would walk with a limp and he would help her,” a neighbour said.