Little sign of foul play in fatal fall

Clara Bansharai Khongsit

TT, Aug. 17: Clara Bansharai Khongsit, the 23-year-old IndiGo flight attendant found dead on the road in front a building at Prafulla Kanan near Kestopur early on Wednesday, did not receive or make any "unusual" phone call in the hours leading to her death from what was possibly an accidental fall through a grille-less window, police said today.

The preliminary post-mortem report states that Clara died of a severe head injury resulting from the fall from her third-floor apartment. The time of death has not been specified, but investigators said they were certain that the Shillong girl died between 12.30am and 4.30am.

"We have no reason to believe that she was in a state of distress. We asked around in the locality and residents said they had not heard her fighting with anyone at home or over phone," an officer said.

Till late on Thursday, Clara's family had not filed a police complaint. Her mother and elder brother took her body to Guwahati on an IndiGo flight in the afternoon. Her funeral would be performed in her hometown, an officer in the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said.

A team of forensic experts, led by a deputy commissioner of police, visited Clara's apartment at AC-49 Prafulla Kanan and examined the area where her body had been found by two residents of the locality around 4.30am on Wednesday.

The team also measured the height of the building and the dimensions of the sliding window through which the police suspect she fell to her death.

Several cushions were dropped through the grille-less window to get an idea of the trajectory of the fatal fall.

Clara had visited a nightclub on Park Street on Tuesday night with friends Evalyne Leen Nongrum and Suraj Sutodiya to celebrate Evalyne's birthday. The trio had returned to her apartment late. Suraj and Evalyne were asleep when the police went up to the apartment and knocked on the door several times.

Investigators took Suraj to Clara's flat today to interrogate him about what might have happened.

"We have registered a case of unnatural death, but there is no complaint from anyone yet," said Santosh Pandey, deputy commissioner (headquarters), Bidhannagar.