Mumbai, January 31: Boxer Priyanka Digambar Belkhede committed suicide on Friday night by hanging herself from the ceiling of her Chembur flat with a saree.
Although she left no suicide note, she is suspected to have been depressed.
The incident took place at around 8pm at Flat D/12 in the HPCL housing quarters at Vashi Naka in Chembur. Priyanka was alone at home because her younger sister, Komal, who is also a professional boxer, had gone out for a walk to RCF Colony. Their father, Digambar, who is a boxer, was away in his native place at Akola.
Komal rang the doorbell when she returned from her walk and, when Priyanka did not answer the door, let herself in with her own keys. She was shocked to find her older sister hanging from the ceiling. She alerted the neighbours who rushed Priyanka to Inlac Hospital, where she was declared dead before admission. Her body was taken to Rajawadi Hospital for a post-mortem, senior police inspector Shirish Shelke, of RCF Police Station said, adding that no suicide note was found in the flat.
Priyanka and Komal used to stay with their mother in Akola. They moved to Mumbai to stay with their father Digambar at the HPCL quarters in September 2009, the police said.
During investigations, Digambar, who is a former Defence personnel and now works with HPCL, reportedly said that Priyanka — the third of his four daughters — had been practicing boxing for a decade, but did not get selected in any boxing competition. The younger daughter Komal, on the other hand, had won four gold medals in national boxing competitions, which may have further upset Priyanka, and led her commit suicide, Shelke said.
Digambar’s two older daughters are married.
–Agencies–