Twist in Bengaluru pianist suicide case: 'I am distressed and in trouble', he told mother minutes before death

In a fresh twist in the probe of the suicide of 29-year-old Pianist from Bengaluru-Karan Joseph, it was revealed that he had been found dangling from his 12th floor apartment. This was revealed by one of the residents of the apartment complex who lived in one of the lower floors. This resident of the Concorde Housing Society said that although she was not sure who was dangling, the person was thin and bald. The lady also said that there was a thin mesh that was clipped to the loops of his trousers. 

Speaking to the investigating officers on Wednesday, she said, "This was on the afternoon of September 5. I suddenly heard a lot of crying and screaming which sounded Aaaaaaa'. I rushed to my bedroom window from where I looked up to the 12th floor balcony and saw this thin bald boy. I couldn't see his face clearly because his head was hung low. There was a plastic curly chain-like wire--the kind you see on telephone handsets--that was clipped to his belt and he was screaming and crying. Seeing his position on the ledge I was afraid he could have fallen down from there any moment."

On alerting her husband, both of them went upstairs to check what was unfolding in the flat. A friend Vidhi Shah answered the door when the couple enquired what was happening. “When we asked her what was happening, she said: “There has been an incident.Everything is fine now. He is inside and resting.“

The duo returned thinking that there must have been some emotional moment between friends, which may have been sorted.

The eyewitness further said, "At that time we didn't know Karan or Rishi until the suicide incident. We've lived here for two years. We've heard sounds of them partying in the past but this is the first time we were witness to something like this. So we informed the building's secretary and the landlord of the 12th floor flat."

M Zaki, a member of the housing society, speaking to the TOI said that when the security visited Shah's apartment to enquire what had been happening, he was told that some currency notes had fallen on the parapet and they were attempting to pick them up. 

After Karan plunged to his death leap, Zaki sent a photograph of Rishi and Karan to the eyewitness. The lady dismissed having seen Rishi, but said that the man hanging precariously was thin and bald, which matched Karan's features.

In another twist, friends of the celebrity pianist alleged that the CEO of Crossbones Media Rishi Shah had Karan under his control because he supplied the latter drugs and money. Karan's friend, in a 6-page letter to the Bandra police said that he faced a lot of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of Rishi. While police have registered a case of abetment of suicide against Rishi, they have continued to question him pertaining to the happenings on that ill-fated day. Both Rishi and his domestic help-Vinod- seem to have similar versions of the story.

However, versions differed when Karan's friends were questioned and his call and message records hours before the death was gathered. In a particular conversation between Karan and a Randolph, it was clear that Karan was manhandled at Rishi's house. Karan told his friend that Rishi was closing the magazine 'Rave' and that he is angry and beating him up. While this allegedly happened between 8 pm the previous day and 4:58 am the next day (the day of the suicide), Karan seemed to be off the entire day after that.

After hanging out with Randolph and some friends, he reached home at 7:11 am from where his last text message to Randolph was sent intimating the latter about reaching home. From that time till minutes before his death, Karan seemed to have made several phone calls to friends and his mother. He seems to have confided in his mother that he was distressed and in trouble. 

[Bengaluru musician Karan Joseph commits suicide in Bandra]

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