Prominent television actress grilled in connection with murder of diamond merchant

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 9

The Mumbai Police have grilled well-known television actress Devoleena Bhattacharjee in connection with the murder of a diamond merchant whose body was discovered in a forest in Maharashtra's Raigad district last week.

Police said Bhattacharjee, an actress best known for her role as Gopi Bahu in the television serial ‘Saath Nibhana Sathiya’, was questioned for several hours after she was found to have spoken several times to Rajeshwar Udani (57) a short while before he went missing.

Udani's family had registered a case of kidnapping after he was went missing earlier this month. His decomposed body was found in the forest without any identification. The diamond merchant was identified on the basis of his clothes and shoes, police said.

So far, a former aide to Maharashtra minister Prakash Mehta, Sachin Pawar and a suspended police constable, Dinesh Pawar, have been arrested in connection with the murder.

According to officials at the Ghatkopar police station, Bhattacharya gave them valuable clues about Udani's links to several actresses in the television industry. Though the actress was questioned for several hours she has not been arrested, police officials said.

"We have called several more women from the television industry for questioning," an official from the Ghatkopar police station said.