Chandigarh Police are investigating the mysterious death of 30-year-old Diksha Thakur, whose body was found inside the ladies’ restroom of the Rose Garden in Sector 16 on Saturday afternoon. She was found with her throat slit, and a knife, her purse and mobile phone were lying nearby.
Police say Diksha, who worked with a news channel in the Industrial Area and lived in a PG in Phase 11, Mohali, had been living separately from her husband for nearly a year. CCTV footage shows her entering the restroom alone. However, the absence of cameras inside the Rose Garden means it is unclear who found her moments later.
Meanwhile, the police are working on both murder and suicide angles. The knife has been sent for fingerprint examination. Her call records are also being analysed. Except for the neck wound, no other injury marks were found on her body.
As per information procured, Diksha’s postmortem was conducted on Sunday by a board of three doctors at Sector 16 Hospital. After the procedure, the body was handed over to her husband to be taken to Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, her hometown.
Her colleagues told police that she had come to work on Saturday but left around 2 pm, saying she was unwell. Instead of going home, she went to the Rose Garden. Police recovered depression medication from her purse, though the reasons behind her mental health struggles remain unclear.
Diksha was originally from the Labour Colony in Saharanpur. One of her sisters lives in Chandigarh, with whom she had been staying along with her brother-in-law.
Police are now examining why her family members or roommates did not alert anyone about her worsening condition.
Her husband, Ritwik, an IT engineer based in Saharanpur, said at the hospital that Diksha had not visited their four-year-old son for seven months. “She had been depressed earlier too, but after moving to Chandigarh it became worse,” he said, adding that living separately was her decision.
Her father-in-law, Hari Om, a retired school principal, broke down as he said he had been trying to get the couple to reconcile. “They were talking again. I thought they would patch up soon. We had no idea she would take such a step,” he said.
The case came to light when a woman tourist entered the restroom around 3pm and found Diksha lying in a pool of blood. Shocked, she ran out and informed nearby traffic police. The police sealed the washroom and called the forensic team, which collected evidence from the spot.
Police also learned that the regular caretaker of the ladies’ restroom, Salma, had not been on duty that day as she had left for Haryana following a bereavement in her family.
However, with no signs of robbery, no visible struggle and no eyewitnesses, police say both angles remain open and the final conclusion will depend on forensic reports and phone data analysis.
