Thaindian News

Chandigarh, Aug 6 (IANS) Fiza Mohammed, aka Anuradha Bali, who married former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan and was later divorced, has died in mysterious circumstances, police said Monday.

Fiza’s highly decomposed body was found Monday in her house in Sector 48 of Mohali town in Punjab, adjoining Chandigarh. A liquor bottle and a pack of cigarettes was found near her body, a police officer said.

“we are investigating the matter. We cannot say anything at this stage,” Mohali district police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said. Police had initially described Fiza’s death as a suicide.

She was booked by the police in January 2009 for attempted suicide after she took an overdose of sleeping pills.

A police officer said there were no signs of struggle inside the room where Fiza’s body was found. The body also did not have any injury marks. The police did not find any suicide note in the house.

“She was alone at home and there were insects on her body. She could have died 4-5 days ago,” Mohali Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) D.S. Mann said.

Police later said they would take a definitive view once the post-mortem examination report was received.

The police were called to her house by her uncle after neighbours complained of a foul smell from her house. The police had to break open the door to get inside house.

“The police broke open the door. Her body was in a bad shape with insects all over. One of the locks of the door was broken,” said Fiza’s uncle Satpal, who last spoke to her Aug 1.

The neighbours told the police that she seemed to be depressed for the past few months, especially after her mother passed away. She had been living alone in the house. She had several arguments and fights with neighbours in the area in the past couple of years and she was even arrested in this regard.

Originally known as Anuradha Bali and a lawyer by profession at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Fiza was an assistant advocate general with the Haryana government till 2008. She led a high-profile life and was close to politicians and influential people in Chandigarh.

She had gone missing in November 2008 along with then Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan. They reappeared in early December 2008 as a married couple after embracing Islam.

They claimed got secretly married in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh. Both changed their names from Chander Mohan to Chand Mohammed and from Anuradha Bali to Fiza.

Following the controversy over his affair and second marriage, Chander Mohan, elder son of three-time Haryana chief minister and political strongman Bhajan Lal, lost his job in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.

The marriage lasted hardly 40 days with Chander Mohan suddenly leaving her house January 28, 2009, and not communicating with her at all. Chander Mohan telephoned Fiza in March 2009 on her mobile phone and divorced her by saying “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq”.

Fiza later told reporters that Chand called her up from London and uttered “talaq” three times. He also sent her an SMS to confirm he was divorcing her.

She had earlier filed a complaint of rape, cheating, intimidation and hurting religious sentiments against Chander Mohan. However, he was given a clean chit by the Mohali police. He had described her complaint as “nothing more than toilet paper”.

Fiza had told the media in 2009 that she had been receiving death threats and feared for her life.

In a volte-face, Chander Mohan arrived at her house in 2009. He even apologised to her and told the media that he had never divorced her.

“I never left, I still love her and I wanted to spend rest of my life with her. I am ready to leave everything, even my family, for her sake. I was under immense pressure and was bound with some prior commitments when I left her house,” Chander Mohan had told IANS after returning to her house.

However, within days he again deserted her and later underwent Hindu prayers at his hometown Hisar in Haryana to re-convert to Hinduism.

Both had not been in touch since then.

Fiza had later appeared in a TV reality show shot in Malaysia.

–Indo-Asian News Service
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