An aspiring actress from a small town in East Midnapore who would frequent Calcutta often for auditions and rehearsals was found dead in a rented flat in Haridevpur on Thursday night.

Her friend and mentor, who was the first to find the woman hanging in the house and is said to have brought her down before showing her to her family through a video call, has been arrested on charges of abetment to suicide.

Police said they received the information around 9pm on Thursday about the woman’s death in a flat on Banamali Banerjee Road.

“On reaching the spot the officers found that the woman was lying motionless on the bed. She was taken to MR Bangur Hospital where she was declared dead,” said an officer of Haridevpur police station.

Police said the woman from East Midnapore would frequently come to Calcutta because of her job.

“The last time we spoke to her was around 8pm. Her voice was not sounding well. She said she had a sore throat after drinking cold water. We did not sense anything amiss then,” the woman’s brother said.

Later in the night (Thursday night), the family received a call from her friend and mentor Sanjay Naskar who switched on the video call and showed them the woman lying lifeless on the bed.

Police said there were no external injury marks on the woman except a non-continuous ligature mark on her neck, which indicated it was a case of suicidal hanging.

The body underwent a post-mortem on Friday. The report was awaited till late Friday evening.

Based on the complaint of the woman’s brother, officers of Haridevpur police station have started a case under sections of abetment to suicide and arrested Naskar.