Television actress found dead at home

Mumbai, Feb. 9: The dark side of tinsel town revealed itself once again with a young, glamorous actress taking her own life just on the cusp of success.

In a tragic incident reminding eerily of the death of television anchor Nafisa Joseph, whose close friend she was, small-screen actress Kuljeet Randhawa (in picture), who played the lead in the serial Kohinoor, was found dead in her Juhu flat last evening.

The body of the 25-year-old actress was hanging from the ceiling and was discovered by a maid servant.

The investigating officer at Juhu police station said a note, found near her body, said she was ending her life as she was tired of it. The autopsy report from Cooper Hospital said her death was caused by hanging, said deputy commissioner of police Amitabh Gupta. “We are still examining the case.”

Gupta said though she did not incriminate anyone, she had spoken of a few persons in “general terms”. The note is said to make a reference to someone described as the “most beautiful person I have met”.

Kuljeet’s last rites were performed after her parents flew down from Delhi. She has a brother and a sister.

People who knew her feel that like Nafisa, who killed herself over a failed affair, Kuljeet also suffered from a broken heart. She is said to have been close to an actor whom she met on the sets of a serial she was working in previously.

Ram Singh, the chowkidar at Krishna Apartments, where Kuljeet lived in a one-room flat, said very few people visited her except a young man, who was a regular visitor. “He used to come very often. Sometimes he used to stay back.”

To her colleagues, the death came as a rude shock. “I cannot believe it,” said Manish Wadhwa, her co-actor on Kohinoor. “She was a very strong, practical, lively person. She was rich. She was successful. We never felt she had it in her to kill herself,” he said.

Kuljeet, who came to Mumbai two years ago, participated in the Gladrags model hunt, and soon after, landed roles in serials. Before Kohinoor, she worked on Special Squad, Hip Hip Hurray and Cats.

She was also the familiar face in advertisements for Electrolux, Savlon and Maruti.

Kuljeet had just finished her first film By Chance.

It was while working for Cats, a desi remake of Charlie’s Angels, that Kuljeet and Nafisa got to know each other. Soon they became the closest of friends. In July 2004, when Nafisa’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of her Versova flat, Kuljeet was among the first to arrive and be by the side of her parents.