19-year-old girl commits suicide, distraught father jumps to death

A 19-year-old girl hanged herself at her residence in Antop Hill in central Mumbai on Monday, leading to her 55-year-old father to commit suicide by jumping off the terrace of their building shortly afterwards, said reports in the Indian Express and Mumbai Mirror. The girl, Megha Khanna, was a student of Khalsa College in Matunga. She was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her residence in Punjabi Colony by her father Ramesh. According to the neighbours, Ramesh reached home after work on Monday, and found the door to Meghna’s bedroom locked. When he went to a neighbour’s flat, Ramesh saw Meghna hanging and with the help of others managed to break down the bedroom door to get to the body. Ramesh informed the police and his other daughter of the incident, after which he went to the four-storeyed building’s terrace and jumped off. [caption id=“attachment_840471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A Facebook photo of Meghna Khanna[/caption] Residents of the building rushed Ramesh to Sion Hospital but he was declared dead on arrival. According to the reports, Meghna is alleged to have had an argument with her father on Sunday night and Monday morning before Ramesh left for work.  Ramesh had been estranged from his wife for the last ten years, and had brought up his two daughters single-handedly. A neighbour of the family told the Mumbai Mirror that Meghna had been a bright girl who excelled in studies. “She had scored distinction marks in the fourth semester of her journalism course. We have no idea why she killed herself,” the neighbour was quoted as saying.