Dying actress blames cosmetic surgeon, 'married men' on camera

MUMBAI: Minutes after being found with her throat slit in the bathroom of her roommate’s Lokhandwala flat on Saturday, actress Shikha Joshi named a cosmetic surgeon as being responsible for her actions. In her “dying declaration”, which was video-recorded on a cellphone by her roommate, Madhu Bharti, Joshi also said that “many married men” were to blame.
The video clip, apart from the nature of injuries sustained by Joshi, has led the police to conclude that it was a case of suicide.The cosmetic surgeon against whom Joshi had pressed molestation charges four years ago is now likely to be questioned.
Bharti, a key witness in the case, said she could not erase the memories of the blood-soaked bathroom in which she discovered 40-year-old Joshi.
“My husband, Riyaz, a friend, Anu, Shikha and I were chatting on Saturday evening till I fell asleep around 4.30 pm,” Bharti said. “When I woke up around 5.45 pm, Shikha was nowhere to be seen. My husband had left for work. I heard some sounds from the bathroom and knocked on the door. But Shikha did not answer. I started to knock repeatedly, at which Shikha mumbled that she was ‘finished’ and ‘nobody could save her anymore’. By then, I grew worried and started egging her to open the door. She said ‘she wouldn’t come out, else people would nab her’. I assured her that only her friends were around, that we would have a cup of tea together and sort out her problems.”
Joshi opened the door and collapsed inside.
“Blood was oozing out of a gash on the left side of her neck,” Bharti said. “A knife was lying nearby. Her clothes and every inch of the bathroom were caked with blood. I summoned Anu and some men living next door. We were all scared and decided to record, on video, why she had attacked herself.”
TOI has a copy of the recording. Neighbours and Bharti’s husband wrapped Joshi in a blanket and took her to the hospital in their car. She was pronounced dead around 7 pm.
“Shikha had told me earlier that she was being exploited in the industry and was unable to find acting jobs or get paid on time,” Bharti said. “Shikha had been drinking on the day she attacked herself. When she said ‘married men’ in the video, I think she was referring to the people in the industry who exploited her.”
A Delhi native, Joshihad been living with Madhu for the past three months. Next week, she was to appear in court for a hearing in connection with a case that the cosmetic surgeon had slapped against her in 2013 for flinging stones at his home. Joshi’s financial troubles had reached such a level that she was planning to sell her cellphone to be able to buy a ticket to Delhi.
“The video-recording has been sent for examination to verify its authenticity,” a police officer said. “We will make enquiries with Shikha’s brother, who was in Mumbai on Sunday to collect her belongings from Madhu’s flat. If sufficient evidence is found, a case of abetment could be recorded.”