Woman jumps down elevator shaft, dies

Usha Rao (54) allegedly jumped to death from outside her 15th floor flat at Kalpataru Estate in Andheri East early Thursday morning. She was living with husband Nagesh (60).

Their two children, a boy working in a private firm, and a girl, who is studying, had returned from the US to celebrate Nagesh's birthday Wednesday.

At 6 am Thursday, Usha allegedly threw herself down the shaft between elevators outside her home.

The family had dined together Wednesday night and retired at 1 am.

When the family did not see Usha in the morning, it assumed she had gone for a walk. However, she was found bleeding by a building watchman at 6 am and rushed to Cooper Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

Postmortem revealed she died of severe injuries to the head and other organs.

The duct through which Usha is said to have jumped is narrow and has pillars at intervals of a few feet.

Her shocked family rubbished suggestions Usha was depressed. "My wife was not depressed. We are trying to find what happened Thursday morning and do not want to comment," said Nagesh.

"There are CCTV cameras outside the home and we will examine footage Saturday to ascertain what happened. A case of suicide has been registered," said inspector Deepak Bagve of MIDC Police Station.

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