Varsha Bhosle, daughter of renowned singer Asha Bhosle, committed suicide by shooting herself in the head at her residence in Prabhukunj building in the swanky Peddar Road area in south Mumbai on Monday, police said. Varsha was 56.

Gamdevi police said Asha Bhosle and her relatives had been informed of the incident. Sources said Asha Bhosle, who was in Singapore, had cancelled all her functions and is reportedly flying back.

Varsha, who wrote columns and had a short stint as a playback singer in some Hindi and Marathi movies, is learnt to have attempted suicide twice earlier by consuming heavy dose of sleeping pills. Before becoming a freelance journalist, she was married to a cricket writer. After her divorce, she had been staying with her mother at Prabhukunj. As soon as the news of the suicide spread, police cordoned off the entire area prohibiting entry of people.