A team from a Forensic Science Laboratory in Mumbai has visited the set of the television show in Maharashtra’s Palghar district where actor Tunisha Sharma was found dead and seized various materials including a crepe bandage which she allegedly used to hang herself, a police official said on Tuesday.
The forensic team from the Kalina lab visited the set on Monday and also seized the clothes and jewellery which Sharma (21) wore on Saturday, when she was found dead, he said.
The official also said that police have seized Sharma’s co-actor Sheezan Khan’s mobile phone and clothes which he wore on the day of incident, the official said.
The police have recorded the statements of 16 persons, including those who were present on the set on Saturday, he said.
Khan (27) was arrested on Sunday for allegedly abetting the suicide of Sharma.
He has told investigators that his relationship with Sharma lasted for three months as it didn’t work out between them and also spoke about the age gap between the two, a Vasai police official said on Monday.
The official said there was nothing so far to point out that Khan and Sharma decided to break up against the backdrop of the Shraddha Walkar murder case in which her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala was arrested by the Delhi Police.
Sharma, who was acting in the serial ‘Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul’, was found hanging in the washroom on the set of the serial on Saturday.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan had alleged the death of Sharma was a matter of “love jihad” and that the state was planning to bring a strict law to curb such incidents.
“Love jihad” is a term coined by right-wing groups to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Countering Mahajan, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole told reporters on Monday that the BJP was giving the “love jihad” angle to the case as it wanted to divert the attention of people from important issues.
As the incident triggered intense discussions on social media, Sharma’s mother on Monday alleged Khan had cheated and “used” her daughter for three to four months.