Actress Arya Banerjee, daughter of late sitarist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, was found dead on the second floor of her house in Jodhpur Park on Friday. She was 35.
There were no injury marks on her body, police said.
Arya had made her debut in Bollywood with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha in 2010. She had also acted in Dirty Picture in 2011.
The actress, also called Devdutta, was alone in her house — 346, Jodhpur Park — on Friday. The police said she had possibly vomitted some food, portions of which were found on her nose and face. She was found lying on the floor with her face down. Cops who broke open the door found some blood droplets on the floor.
“Primarily there appears to be no foul play. The exact cause of death will be known when the post-mortem report reaches us,” a senior police officer of Lake police station said.
Some of Arya’s neighbours have told the police that the actress had been living alone during the Covid pandemic.
Recently, Arya had hired a domestic help. Chandana has told the police that she had been calling Arya’s phone since 10am on Friday, but she hadn’t responded. Later, when she went to the flat, no one answered the door.
“She was getting her food through app-based delivery platforms for some time now. She used to spend time with her pet dog. Neighbours said she didn’t mix with anyone in the locality,” the police said.
The help has told the police that Arya would have limited interactions with her.
“We are trying to find out who would visit the house for any work. Her call details are being scanned to see if she was in any distress and if she had received any food from outside in the last 24 hours,” the police said.
A masters in classical music, Arya had dabbled in modelling before moving to Mumbai where she did a three-month acting course in Anupam Kher’s acting school. In 2013, Arya had walked the ramp for a leading fashion designer.