News anchor falls to death

NOIDA: A news anchor with a private television channel died allegedly after she fell off the balcony of her fourth floor apartment early on Friday, with her family suspecting foul play. The incident took place at 3.30 am on Friday

Radhika Kaushik was in her house in the Antrikh Forest Apartments in Sector 77 with a colleague when the incident occurred, the police said.

Kaushik was employed with Zee Rajasthan. She was from Jaipur and had been living in Noida flat for the past four months.

Both Kaushik and her colleague in Zee Rajasthan were reportedly inebriated at the time of the incident, an official said, adding liquor bottles were recovered from the house where a party was held Thursday night.

It has been ascertained that a party was going on in the flat at the time of the incident. “The security guard of the building had alerted the police at Sector 49 police station about the incident. The colleague has told police that he had gone to her house for dinner when she accidentally toppled over the railing in the balcony of the flat,” a police official said.

Kaushik used to live with two roommates who were not present in the flat at the time of her death.

A case has been registered under Section 302 (murder) of IPC on a complaint by the family of Kaushik, and the colleague has been detained for questioning, Sector 49 police station house officer Girija Shankar Tripathi said. “The railing in the balcony is of low-height,” the official said.

Initial investigation has revealed that Kaushik and Awasthi were inebriated. The two had also had a heated exchange. According to Awasthi, when he went to use the bathroom, Kaushik fell down. The police is trying to determine whether the death was an accident, a murder or if the anchor committed suicide.