Rahul Raj Singh reveals he was the first person to find Pratyusha Banerjee hanging: 'She was alive'

Rahul Raj Singh and Pratyusha Banerjee

TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee, who shot to fame with her serial Baalika Vadhu, was found dead by hanging in her Mumbai apartment at the age of 24 on April 1, 2016. The postmortem report indicated thatthe cause of death was asphyxia. However, her parents claimed she was murdered by her boyfriend, Rahul Raj Singh. During a recent chat, Rahul revisited his relationship with Pratyusha, the trauma she faced from her father, and the moment he found her hanging in her apartment.

Rahul Raj recalls the terrifying scene of seeing Pratyusha Banerjee hanging

During a conversation with The Free Press Journal, Rahul recalled the terrifying moment he discovered Pratyusha hanging and his desperate attempt to save her. He shared, "I was the first one to reach, and with the help of a locksmith, we tried to open the door. Our flat had a balcony that was interconnected. We were trying to open the gate because even when I rang the bell, she wasn't opening it. I tried to break the lock. I had a bad feeling. I thought maybe she was drunk or had gone to sleep. So the locksmith went from behind, and he got scared. His hands were trembling. The lock wasn't opening from inside because he got nervous seeing her hanging."

He added, "When he opened the door, and I looked up, she was hanging in a black satin dress. It was very bad. I gathered my courage and took her to the hospital. She was alive while I was taking her there. I even tried to give her CPR, but she didn't make it."

Rahul Raj on Pratyusha Banerjee's father

Rahul also opened up about how the 24-year-old was affected by her father's behaviour. "She was in a very messed-up situation when we met. She was not doing well mentally, so at that time, we got emotionally attached and dated for around 10 months before she passed away. She wasn't doing well because her father was a very bad human being. He used to abuse her, and she used to get very affected by that. It used to break her," he revealed.

Recalling their final phone call, Rahul shared what Pratyusha's emotional state was just hours before her death. "2-3 days before her death, there was a conversation between her father and her in which some abuses happened. In our last conversation, I was asking her, 'Why are you feeling so bad?' She said she doesn't like to hear abuse. So I asked, 'Who is abusing you?' She said it's her father who is abusing her. When a father abuses his daughter, it affects a lot. I also have a daughter, so I imagine that if I am abusing her, how bad would she feel? Pratyusha used to tell me, ‘I am earning, and my father is spending all that drinking alcohol.' How bad is that? It affects people's minds."