(From top) Nirupama Pathak; her house in Koderma and her mother Subhra Pathak. Telegraph pictures

Giridih/Koderma, May 3: The mother of a 23-year-old journalist, who was found dead in her Koderma home on April 29, was arrested and her brothers grilled today after the post-mortem report revealed that the girl died of strangulation and not electrocution as claimed by her family.

The autopsy report (a copy of which is with The Telegraph) added that Nirupama Pathak, who worked in an English daily in Delhi, was 12-weeks pregnant, triggering speculations that she may have been a victim of “honour killing”.

Nirupama, who did her graduation from JJ College, Tilaiya, and then went to study at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, had come to visit her parents at Chitragupta Nagar Colony on April 19 after being informed that her mother, Subhra Pathak, had fallen down in the bathroom and suffered a backbone fracture. She was due to return to Delhi on April 28, but her ticket was cancelled. Sources said that Nirupama’s family had summoned her as they did not approve of her relationship with a fellow journalist, Pribhanshu Ranjan.

However, her brothers, who are based outside, were released after questioning as they were not present at the time of the incident. Her father, Dhanmendra Pathak, who is the manager of Punjab National Bank’s Gonda branch in Uttar Pradesh, was also not at home. Only her mother was present.

“On that fateful day, I received a message from Nirupama around 5.40am. She wrote that she would be coming to Delhi soon and that I should be patient and should not take any extreme step. So, I could hardly believe it when I heard she was dead a few hours later,” Pribhanshu, who hails from Bihar, said over phone.

“After receiving the news, when I called on her number, a woman took the call. She claimed that she was Nirupama’s neighbour. It was she who confirmed her death. I suspected foul play and requested a friend to inform Koderma police,” he added.

Koderma superintendent of police G. Kranti Kumar said the post-mortem report had confirmed that Nirupama was strangled to death. “It’s a murder case. We have arrested the girl’s mother, Subhra Pathak. Interrogation is on. She was alone at the house when the incident occurred and so we are focusing on her right now,” Kumar added.

Police said they had suspected Subhra’s involvement from the very beginning. “Earlier, she claimed that Nirupama was electrocuted while repairing the ceiling fan. Later, she changed her statement and said she found the girl dead on the bed. That made us suspicious and we started investigating the murder angle,” a police officer said.

The officer further said that when they mounted pressure on Nirupama’s family, they handed over a suicide note and her mobile phone. The suicide note said Nirupama had a lot of responsibilities and she was unable to bear the tension any longer. She also said that she loved her family and held nobody responsible for her death.

Sub-divisional police officer of Koderma Chandrashekhar Prasad said that they were trying to find out whether the note was written by Nirupama or someone else.

Meanwhile, Pribhanshu, along with other journalists, met chairperson of National Women’s Council Girija Vyas in Delhi today. Vyas assured them that she would urge the state government to transfer the case to a fast track court.