Woman techie jumps from ninth floor in Bengaluru

Bengaluru:  A 28-year-old woman plunged to her death from the ninth floor of an upscale apartment complex in Marathahalli in HAL police station limits early Saturday.

The deceased, Ankita Soni, a resident of Bellandur, was reportedly suffering from depression and the police suspect that she could have taken the extreme step because of her deteriorating mental health condition.

She jumped from the balcony of her friend Poorva’s flat early morning, when everyone was asleep. The flat is located at the Purva Fountain Square on Varthur Main Road, the police added.

Ankita Soni was single and hailed from Himachal Pradesh. She has been in the city for nearly a year and was working as a software engineer at PWC, a private firm located on Outer Ring Road.

According to the police, Poorva had gone to Ankita’s apartment in Bellandur on Thursday night as Poorva’s husband Prasad Joshi had to go to Pune. On Friday, both Ankita and Poorva had come to the latter’s flat in Purva Fountain Square in Marathahalli as Ankita was in too much of anxiety.

Ankita had also called her uncle Manish Soni in Mumbai, who flew down to the city on Friday to console her. Manish Soni and Poorva spoke to Ankita from about 10 pm until 12 midnight and tried to console her, the police said, after which all the three retired to sleep, but Ankita was on her phone talking to a ‘friend’ for a long time, pacing around inside the house. Around 5.45 am, she leapt to her death from the balcony of the ninth floor flat, police said.

The apartment facility staff heard a thud sound and rushed to the spot. She was taken to Columbia Asia Hospital in Whitefield, where she was declared dead at 8.45 am, police said.

“We knew about the incident only when the hospital staff alerted us through a memo as such a death has happened. Later Ankita’s uncle, Poorva and her husband came at around 11 am and registered a complaint with us,” said an investigating police officer. Her uncle said the victim was very depressed, the officer added.

“We have secured Ankita’s laptop and mobile phone. The laptop has a password and her mobile phone has a pattern which is yet to be cracked and other details to be investigated,” the officer said.

“At this juncture, we did not find any death note on her,” he added. Ankita’s body has been shifted to Bowring Hospital mortuary for post-mortem on Sunday. Her family members from Himachal Pradesh are on their way to the city, the police added. HAL police have registered a case of unnatural death and further investigations are underway.