Woman who fell to death tried to 'steal'

There is a sensational twist in the death of a doctor’s 25-year-old wife, who fell off the fifth floor of a posh apartment in southern Bengaluru on Sunday evening. Police suspect she sneaked into a neighbour’s flat to steal valuables and jumped off when the owners came. But her husband has cried murder. 

Sonal Agarwal — whose husband Avinash Agarwal is a doctor at the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) — used a spare key to enter flat number 501 in the Mantri Alpyne apartment, Uttarahalli Main Road. She had stolen the key a week ago. Once in the flat, she took away gold jewellery and currency notes. But as she was about to leave, the flat owners came back unexpectedly. They were perplexed to find the door locked from inside. When they knocked on the door, Sonal panicked and went into a room, and jumped off the balcony, police said.  

Dr Avinash, however, filed a police complaint, saying his wife’s death was neither a suicide nor an accident but murder. The couple, from Chhattisgarh, live in flat number 505 on the same floor. They got married three years ago and have a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Sonal’s sister lives with them. 

Avinash said his wife had gone to the neighbour’s flat to attend a Ganesha puja while he was on the ground floor. He was stunned to see his wife fall down. He suspects somebody pushed her with the intention of killing her. 

But Prasad, a software engineer and the owner of 501 number flat, disputed Avinash’s claim. In a statement to the police, he said his entire family had gone to the ground floor to take part in a Ganesh puja. When they returned to the flat, they found the door locked from the inside. A while later, they learnt somebody had jumped off the building. They rushed down only to see Sonal’s lifeless body. 

Prasad further said they found their missing key, gold jewellery and other valuables from Sonal’s innerwear. He said the key had gone missing last week but he didn’t file a police complaint as he thought his children misplaced it. 

Ravi D Channannavar, DCP (West), said they were examining the case from all angles. According to him, it’s unclear why Sonal went to the neighbour’s flat. Police are checking the call detail record of Sonal and her husband. They have questioned the neighbours.