Teenage maid at diamond merchant`s house found dead

Mumbai: A 19-year-old girl, working as a domestic help at a diamond merchant`s house here, was found dead, in what police suspect to be a case of suicide, a suggestion rejected by her family. The body of Chandra Pawar was found past midnight yesterday on the ground floor of the posh residential building in South Mumbai`s Cuffe Parade area where her employer Ramesh Balchandani resides, police said today. While mystery shrouds Pawar`s death, investigators, who examined the spot, indicated it could be a case of suicide. She might have jumped off the 23rd floor apartment, where she worked, they said. According to police, a taxi driver, who had parked his vehicle outside the building`s gate, spotted her lying inside the residential premises around 12.30 AM and informed police. Pawar was rushed to nearby GT Hospital where she was declared dead before admission. The girl, who stayed in Ambedkar Nagar in Cuffe Parade, was employed one-and-a-half years ago to work round- the-clock in Balchandani`s house, police said. Pawar`s family, however, rejected the suicide theory and alleged foul play. "Her family stated she planned to work till November end and then leave the job. There were no reason for her to commit suicide and she might have been murdered," they said, quoting the maid`s kin. Police have registered a case of accidental death and are probing all the angles, including murder and abetment to suicide.