Techie Husband Finds Blood-Soaked Body Of 23-Yr-Old Beauty Queen

Nitasha Natu | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 24, 2012)

 

Mumbai: A 23-year-old model and actress was found murdered in her ground-floor residence at Four Bungalows, Andheri West, on Monday night. Bidushi Dash Barde was a former beauty contest winner from Chennai who had a love marriage with software engineer Kedar Barde three years ago. Kedar found her blood-splattered body when he returned home from work.

The D N Nagar police initially registered a case of accidental death. But based on the nature of injuries in Bidushi’s post-mortem report and an eyewitness account of a society resident, the police converted the case to that of murder on Tuesday.

Bidushi, who had acted in Tamil films and was currently modelling in Mumbai, had moved into the Andheri flat 18 months ago with her husband. Their apartment at Manish Nagar was rented. Kedar, 26, works with a Nariman Point-based firm.

Around 7.45am on Monday, Kedar left for work. At that time, Bidushi was home alone. He called her at 9.30am but there was no response. Throughout the day, Kedar called Bidushi several times but she did not answer the phone. Their domestic help, too, knocked on the door to the apartment but got no response. Around 9.30pm, Kedar returned home from work. He opened the door with his set of keys when Bidushi did not respond to the doorbell. “Kedar noticed that the lights were switched off but the television set was on. He then came across Bidushi’s blood-splattered body in the passage between the bathroom and the bedroom. A glass shelf was lying broken near her and there were glass shards all over the place. There were glass shards protruding from Bidushi’s cheek, jaw, neck and chin. Besides there were also some fingernail marks on her face as well as head injuries,” said a senior police official.

While the police confirmed that a sharp weapon was used for the offence, the exact cause of death will be ascertained only after a chemical analysis done at the state forensic science laboratory.

With the help of his landlord, Dr Shinde, Kedar took Bidushi to the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

DEATH BY DESIGN?
• Bidushi Dash Barde, a 23-year-old model and actor, lived in a rented flat at Four Bungalows, Andheri (W), with husband Kedar Barde, a techie. Theirs was a love marriage

• At 9.30pm on Monday, Kedar returned home to find Bidushi’s blood-soaked body lying between the bathroom and the bedroom

• A glass shelf was lying broken near Bidushi and glass shards were embedded all over her face and neck; there were some fingernail marks on her face besides head injuries

• Kedar told the D N Nagar police she was diabetic and prone to fainting

• Police registered a case of accidental death

• But based on the post-mortem report and an eyewitness account of a ‘mysterious’ visitor, the case was converted to murder

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Mystery man in white shirt key to Andheri murder

23-year-old model stabbed in Four Bungalows flat

Divyesh Singh and Mustafa Shaikh (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 24, 2012)

 

The Mumbai police are searching for their first suspect in the murder of actress and model Bidushi Dash Barde (23), who was found dead in her Andheri flat on Monday. The suspect – a man spotted inside her home by a maid who works in the building – is believed to be the last person to enter the flat before her husband Kedar found her body at 9 pm on Monday.

The couple lived in a rented ground-floor flat at Manish Garden Building, Four Bungalows. Kedar, who works in at IT firm, left for work around 7.30 am Monday. Around 9 am, a maid who works in the flat above, noticed that the door to the couple’s flat was ajar. She looked inside and saw a man, dressed in a white striped shirt, who she didn’t recognise. Kedar has told the police that he had telephoned his wife twice – at 9.15 am and at 3pm – but got no response both times. He also sent her an SMS at 3pm, asking why she wasn’t answering his calls. Again, there was no reply.

Police’s initial investigations now hinge on identifying the mystery man, believed to be the last person to enter the flat before Kedar returned that night.

Bidushi’s murder once against puts into focus the safety of women in India’s most cosmopolitan city. On August 9, Pallavi Purkayastha, a 25-year-old lawyer, was found murdered in her 16th-floor flat in Himalayan Heights, Wadala. Sajid Pathan, a watchman of the building, subsequently confessed to the crime and was charged with murder and trespass.

BIDUSHI ‘KNEW ATTACKER’

According to the police, there were no signs of a forced entry into her flat, nothing was stolen, and there is also no sign of a struggle. The police therefore suspect that Biduhsi was killed by someone she knew and trusted.

“A person named Fray had visited Bidushi’s flat around 2.15 pm but left when his knocks went unanswered, so it could be that Bidushi was murdered before that,” said another police officer.

Kedar returned home at 9 pm on Monday and knocked on the door. When nobody answered, he used his keys to enter the flat and was shocked to see his wife lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Kedar took Bidushi to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, where she was declared dead before admission.

Shards of glass from a shattered showcase were found in Bidushi’s neck. While it is possible that she hurt herself in a fall, the police believe the nature of her injuries point to an attack, not an accident.

ACCIDENT RULED OUT
The D N Nagar police had initially registered a case of accidental death as Kedar had told them that Bidushi suffered from diabetes and had fainted several times in the past.

He suspected that his wife had collapsed unconscious and injured herself in the fall.

This theory, however, was quickly ruled out when the police received the post mortem report, which confirmed that Bidushi had been attacked with a sharp object on her chin, neck and cheeks.

“We are questioning several people known to Bidushi and Kedar. We are also speaking to the building’s security guards to find out if they had seen anybody entering the flat. We will also check her call and SMS records to find out who all she communicated with on Monday,” said Pratap Dighavkar, deputy commissioner of police, zone IX.

Daughter of a senior Indian Air Force officer, Bidushi was the face of a leading matrimonial website and also appeared in various other ad campaigns. According to the police, she had acted in some south Indian movies and was trying to make it in Bollywood. Kedar and her had wed in 2009.