Mystery shrouds death of Air hostess and her boyfriend in city

Chennai, Aug 4: Mystery shrouds the death of an airhostess and her boyfriend, who were found dead in their apartment at the posh Tiruvanmiyur area in the city last evening.

While one version was that the airhostess of a private airliner Shilpa (24) and her friend Jayanth committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling, another version was that she was poisoned to death by her lover, who later committed suicide, fearing the consequences.

Shilpa's proximity with few of her boy friends, might have prompted Jayanth to take such a step, sources said.

Police sources told UNI that the investigation was in a preliminary stage. ''We are probing all angles. A postmortem was done on the body of Shilpa and only viscera tests will reveal the exact nature of her death''.

The body of Jayanth, working in a BPO firm and living with Shilpa for more than two years in the apartment, was kept at Government Royapettah Hospital where the post mortem would be conducted tomorrow after the arrival of his parents from New Delhi.

The body of Jayanth, with the noose around his neck, was lying in the floor after the rope got severed due to weight, Shilpa was found dead on the bed.

Acting on a complaint from her family members that there was no response from Shilpa for the last three days and her apartment was locked, police broke open the doors last evening and found the highly decomposed bodies of the lovers.

Both of them were in love and after initial opposition, Shilpa's parents gave their consent for the marriage. But the girl had delayed the marriage following fears of losing her job.

On hearing the tragic news, parents and other family members of Shilpa rushed to the city. Shilpa's mother, Jayakumari, a retired school teacher wailed after seeing the body of her daughrer. Shilpa's father was a retired Electricity Board official. Shilpa hailed from Yelahanka in Gandhi Nagar area in Bangalore and had completed a catering course in a college in Kolar. She fell in love with Jayanth while studying in the same college.

When she went for Mumbai for a training course, Jayanth accompanied her, but later he returned to take up a job at a call centre in Bangalore.

Shilpa came here, couple of years ago after she got the airhostess job and since then, she and Jayanth were living together in the flat.

Family sources said Shilpa spoke to her maternal uncle in Bangalore over phone at the night of August one and it appeared that she died the same night. Shilpa told him that she was being transferred to Bangalore and she would stay with them, her uncle said.

Neighbours grew suspicious after the flat remained locked for four days and informed the police last evening.

UNI