House help found dead at Shiv Vihar

Jalandhar, August 31

A 22-year-old domestic help working in a Model Town locality allegedly died by suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in the house of former Congress councillor Rohan Sehgal’s mother at Shiv Vihar on Saturday morning.

The deceased, identified as Nikita Verma, originally from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was living with her aunt in Sodal Nagar. Nikita had been working at the house of Sehgal’s mother as domestic help for the past five years.

Nikita’s aunt Krishna Verma received information about death of her niece early in the morning. Upon arriving at the scene, she expressed doubts over circumstances surrounding Nikita’s death. She claimed that no evidence at the spot suggested that her niece died by suicide. She suspected foul play was involved in death of her niece. Though Krishna did not accuse anyone directly, she urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation in the case.

Unconfirmed reports also suggest that the police discovered a pregnancy test strip near Nikita’s body raising further questions over the circumstances leading to her death. Anu Palyal, SHO Division No. 7, said the body of the deceased was sent for a post-mortem examination. The SHO said the police were investigating the case from all possible angles. The SHO said Nikita’s parents lived in Bihar and they had been informed about the incident. “Once her parents arrive, further legal proceedings would be initiated as per their statement,” the SHO added.

When asked if any foul play was suspected and if a pregnancy strip was found, Palyal said nothing could be revealed at this juncture as investigation was underway.

Meanwhile, Rohan Sehgal’s lawyer, Harminder Singh Sandhu, in his statement to mediapersons stated that the family was fully cooperating with the police in the investigation. He said his client’s family had handed over footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the house to the police.