'Pratyusha was not in live-in relationship with Rahul'

NEW DELHI: Soma Banerjee, mother of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee who committed suicide last year, said the actress was not in a live-in relationship with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh. Soma also said "Rahul created emotional pressure on her daughter and killed her". She was present at the prayer meet on her daughter's death anniversary along with her husband Shankar Banerjee, actress and Pratyusha's friend and colleague Kamya Panjabi among others on Saturday. "Who is Rahul to Pratyusha? What was his relationship with my late daughter? They were not in a live-in relationship," she said while interacting with the media. "After coming to Mumbai, my daughter was not in a live-in relationship, Rahul was staying with us. He conspired, separates our daughter from us, and then started staying at her place, calling it a live-in relation. He conspired, created pressure on my daughter and killed her." During the prayer meet, when singer Harshdeep Kaur sang one of Pratyusha's favourite songs "Jo Bheji Thi Dua", her mother broke down in tears. "Rahul conspired, created pressure on my daughter and killed her," said Pratyusha's mom (PC: Instagram/ Pratyusha Banerjee) She cried loudly and said: "No one has an idea of the pain a mother goes through, my daughter whom I brought back home as baby, and later as a body... a dead body from hospital... how will I live my life with this memory? How? Who will call me 'Ma'?" Pratyusha gained fame after playing the character of Anandi in "Balika Vadhu". The actor, after leaving the show went through a rough phase in her professional and personal life. She was found hanging at her Mumbai apartment on April 1, 2016, and according to the postmortem report, the cause of death was asphyxia.