Koderma: A 26-year-old woman, Ayushi Chawla, was found hanging under suspicious circumstances at the home of her live-in partner in Jhumri Telaiya town, sparking a police investigation into whether it was suicide or murder.
Ayushi, a resident of Parsabad under the Jainagar police station in Koderma district, had been living with her partner, Harsh Sonkar—a fruit vendor in Chitragupta Nagar—for the past two years.
According to police, Harsh said he left home around 6 a.m. for work. Shortly after, he claimed, Ayushi called him and said she was going to end her life. He rushed back and found her hanging from the ceiling fan. By the time he brought her down, she was already dead.
Harsh then informed the police and Ayushi’s family. The police reached the spot and sent the body for a post-mortem. An investigation is now underway to determine if the case is a suicide or if foul play was involved.
Ayushi’s mother, however, has accused Harsh of murder, alleging that he staged the suicide to cover up the crime. “He killed her and is pretending it was suicide,” she told investigators.
Ayushi had been married in 2018 to a man from Jhumri Telaiya, but the marriage ended in divorce after five years. Since then, she had been living with Harsh and working as a coordinator at an old-age home on Addi Bangla Road. She has a six-year-old son who currently lives with her mother.
Family members said Ayushi had recently expressed a desire to remarry and had agreed when the topic was brought up. “We had even started looking for a suitable match for her,” a relative said, adding that her sudden death has left them devastated.
Police have registered a case and are questioning Harsh along with others close to the woman. “We are looking into all possible angles—whether it was suicide, abetment to suicide, or murder. The autopsy and forensic reports will be key in determining the exact cause of death,” a senior officer said.
With inputs from IANS