Kandivali Death: Policemen collect body samples

To send it to forensic lab to ascertain drug overdose, rape

The Charkop police, which is investigating the accidental death of a 21-year-old woman — suspected to have died of drug overdose — has collected her body samples on Wednesday and will send it to a forensic lab for testing.

The samples will help the police ascertain drug overdose and if she was raped.

The deceased, Ruksar Khan, was a Govandi resident. The incident occurred in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday in a rented house in the Mhada complex in Kandivali (west). Khan was partying with her friends identified as Payal Banjara, Tauhid Ahmed and one more youth identified as Sameer. The house was taken on rent by Payal. All those at the party worked in the entertainment industry.

The group was consuming drinks and had mixed drugs in the drinks. The trio left the next morning, ie Saturday, but for some unknown reason none of them reportedly bothered to wake up Ruksar. It was only in the evening that one of the friends returned and found her dead after which she was rushed to Shatabdi Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Noor Afzal Siddiqui, uncle of the deceased, said, “We strongly suspect my niece was raped and murdered. We will definitely pursue the case further. We suspect her friends are lying to save themselves now. We also want to find out where the drugs came from. Her friend Payal said that she had locked the room and left. Who locks the room before leaving, if some one is sleeping inside Why didn’t they even care to wake her up before leaving I think the trio is hiding a lot!”

Senior police inspector Ramchandra Gaikwad of Charkop police said that it had not received any evidence that pointed to a cognisable offence so far in order to register an FIR.

Mr Gaikwad confirmed that the vaginal swabs and stomach wash of the deceased had been taken by a doctor during her post mortem and the samples would be sent to the forensic lab to find out if she was raped and whether she died of drug overdose.

The officer added that no external injuries were found on the deceased.