Airhostess' live-in companion cremated in city

Chennai, Aug 6 (UNI) The mortal remains of Jayanth, the live-in companion of Jet Airways airhostess Shilpa, were consigned to flames in the city, even as a new theory emerged that he might have killed her by spiking her beer with poison.

The body of Jayanth was handed over to his parents -- Col (Retd) N C Nath and Mrs Parimal Nath -- after a post-mortem yesterday.

Initially they thought of taking the body to their native place in Haryana, but decided against it as the body was in a highly decomposed state and cremated it in the city.

Police sources told UNI here today that Jayanth's body was consigned to flames at the Besant Nagar crematorium last evening.

The airhostess' body was already handed over to her parents on Friday night and it was taken to Bangalore for the funeral.

Meanwhile, a new theory has emerged in the investigation into the unnatural deaths of the love-lorn duo, whose highly decomposed bodies were found in their apartment, where they lived together for nearly two years, on Thursday night.

Preliminary investigation into the unnatural deaths hinted that it was a crime of passion.

The post-mortem report revealed that the neck bone of Shilpa was not broken, ruling out her death by hanging. This gave room for suspicion that Jayanth might have poisoned her to death suspecting her fidelity before committing suicide.

A beer bottle recovered from the spot was sent for laboratory tests and the report was awaited, police said.

The body of Jayanth, with the noose of a severed rope around his neck, was found on the floor, while Shilpa was found dead on the bed.

Doubts also arose over the exact cause of the death of Jayanth.

Going by the rope in his neck, police initially believed that he had committed suicide by hanging and the rope got severed because of the weight.

However, they suspect that he too would have consumed poison after failing in his attempt to hang himself. ''There was also a possibility of the rope getting severed while attempting to hang himself'', the sources said.

A clear picture would be known only in the post mortem and viscera reports, which were not made public by the police.

The marking of words ''jealousy'' and ''suspicion'', in the Bible kept by Shilpa, which was recovered from the spot, gave credence to the suspicion that she would have been killed by Jayanth.

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