‘Sorry mom’: Singer ends life after sending WhatsApp suicide note

An up-and-coming playback singer allegedly committed suicide hours after sending a WhatsApp death note addressed to her mother. Police suspect dowry harassment.

Sushmitha H S alias Sushmitha Raje, 26, was found hanging in a bedroom at her mother’s house on Malagala Main Road, Nagarabhavi, around 5.30 am on Monday.

Her brother, Sachin, discovered the suicide after seeing her text message on WhatsApp. She had also sent him the message, asking that he show it to their mother, Meenakshi.

Sushmitha is said to have named her husband Sharath Kumar, his aunt Vydehi and his sister Geetha in the purported suicide letter. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ramesh B told reporters that an FIR had been registered against all the three under IPC section 304B (dowry death) and that they would be arrested soon.

Sushmitha had started to make her mark in Kannada playback singing and had sung for latest films such as Sree Samanya and Halu Tuppa. She married Kumar, a manager at an automobile company, in July 2018 and lived with her in-laws in Kumaraswamy Layout but often visited her mother. She came to see her on Sunday, too, after Kumar allegedly beat her.

Police suspect that Sushmitha ended her life sometime between 1 am and 5.30 am as she had sent the WhatsApp message around 1 am.

‘Sorry mom, I miss you’

She wrote the WhatsApp message in Roman Kannada.

“Sorry mom, I am paying the price for my own mistake. He tortured me by listening to his aunt. I have undergone a lot of mental torture as he used to force me to leave the house. Please don’t spare them. Sharath, Geetha and Vydehi are directly responsible for my extreme step. I didn’t want to die in their house. I fell on his feet and begged him but he didn’t change. I was being harassed from the first day of this marriage. But I didn’t share it with anyone.

“Please don’t spare them, otherwise I won’t rest in peace. Do my final rites in our village. Let my brother hold all the responsibility to do my final rites. Mom, I miss you. My younger brother Sachin is there to look after you. Please take care of him. Once again, I am sorry.”