Bollywood Actress Kidnapped, Killed by Her Co-Stars

  • Share
  • Read Later
YouTube

Thursday was a tragic day for Bollywood fans, as news surfaced that popular actress Meenakshi Thapa was kidnapped and then killed by two of her co-stars.

The 26-year-old was reportedly kidnapped by two aspiring actors she’d met on set on the set of her latest film, Heroine, the Telegraph reports. Police report that Amit Jaiswal and his girlfriend, Preeti Surin, invited Thapa on a trip to Gorakhpur, a town close to India’s border with Nepal, after hearing her boast about her family’s wealth.

What seemed to start as a vacation quickly evolved into a kidnapping, reports say. According to the New York Daily News, the two held Thapa hostage and threatened her mother to pay them 1,500,000 rupees (about $28,000) ransom or they’d force her daughter to make pornographic films.

(MORE: Pakistan Bans Film With Indian James Bond)

The Telegraph reported that Thapa’s mother gave Jaiswal and Surin 60,000 rupees (about $1,150), which unfortunately did not meet the pair’s demands. They reportedly ended up killing the actress, strangling her to death and then beheading her. Her head was thrown out a bus window in a bag on the way to Mumbai, and her torso was dumped in a water tank, according to reports.

Police found the two responsible when they were caught in possession of Thapa’s cell-phone SIM card; the couple later confessed to the killing.

“We are still investigating the case and both the accused along with a police team are visiting the crime spot. We have yet to recover the body,” a detective told the Telegraph.

MORE: How a Late Bollywood Icon Saved This Correspondent’s Life