Are Pratyusha’s parents also responsible for her suicide?

The Khar resident, who worked for Pratyusha Banerjee, says she was witness to the actress’ mother and boyfriend Raj fighting with her frequently to gain control of her finances
Television actress Pratyusha Banerjee had allegedly tired of both her parents and boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh’s nagging. Hoping to clear the air around her sufferings once and for all, Ruchika Saxena (name changed), the 34-year-old former domestic help of the actress, told mid-day on Saturday that Pratyusha’s mother and Rahul fought with her frequently to gain control of her finances.
Saxena, a small-time model from Khar, said she was struggling to make ends meet when she was introduced to Pratyusha. She began working as a maid at the actress’ residence in Kandivli in December last year and followed her when she moved to Goregaon. Saxena, however, quit the job on March 20, just days before the alleged suicide on April 1, because a hard-up Pratyusha couldn’t afford to pay her salary.
Saxena, who claimed to be close to Pratyusha, said the actress’ mother, Shoma, disapproved of Rahul and repeatedly asked her to leave him. Rahul had allegedly no love lost for Shoma, either – he, too, kept asking Pratyusha to cut her mother off her life. “Whenever her mother snapped at him, Pratyusha got worked up and angry, and would pick a fight with her,” Saxena said. “She kept telling Pratyusha to give her money to the parents, instead of Rahul. Both Pratyusha and her mother fought bitterly over this.”
At the end of each bitter fight, Pratyusha allegedly used to tell her mother to leave her house. “Rahul disliked her parents so much that he even blocked her parents’ numbers on Pratyusha’s cellphone,” said Saxena.
Wedding dreams
The former maid said the actress regretted that she was the only unmarried person in her gang of friends. “Meri sari friends ki shaadi ho gayi, sirf mein hi bachi hoon,” Pratyusha once confided in Saxena. “She wanted to marry Rahul at any cost and spend her entire life with him. She was ready to do anything for this. One day, she told me that she had decided that she would drop the subject and would wait for Rahul to make plans for the wedding on his own,” said Saxena.- MD