Divya Bharti Death Anniversary: Accident, Suicide or Murder? A blow-by-blow account of 90s superstar's tragic death

"Divya who had already gulped a few drinks complained of being depressed. And during the course, of her conversation, with the Lullas she went into the kitchen, fixed herself a glass of white rum and sauntered back in the hall. There she switched on her TV set and climbed over her balcony to sit on the parapet below, her favourite place where she would often sit, relax and nurse her drinks. But, unfortunately, on that fateful day, she slipped and succumbed to her destiny. Divya was rushed to R.N. Cooper hospital by Mr V. Menon, her director neighbour who lived on the second floor and by Dr Shyam Lulla. While Neeta, along with Divya's maid went to Divya's house to inform her parents and brother. Every effort was made to save the beautiful actress but nothing worked. Divya was declared DEAD ON ARRIVAL!"

"It was around 1:30 am, there were only a handful of people present in the hospital. Probably nobody heard of the tragedy till then. Divya's mortal remains were placed on the trolley in the casualty ward. Her father, Mr Bharti, was right next to her. He had taken the tragedy real bad. He was simply uncontrollable. 'They have killed my daughter. Burndown everything. I don't want anything, just give me back Divya,' he kept sobbing like a child. Divya's brother Kunal seemed equally shattered. Like a pillar of strength, he stood by his father, trying to console him. Later, when he just couldn't control his tears anymore he burst out, 'I shouldn't have left my loving sister behind. I was with her till ten minutes before she could jump down. She was very depressed, she told me that. But, I didn't know she would do such a thing. I don't want anything. I just want my sister back. She was just 19. Is that the age to die?' He kept repeating. He was then taken aside by his maid-servant."

"Apparently, Divya's mother could not be traced till three in the morning. At around 3:45 am. she arrived at the hospital still ignorant of the fact that she had lost her only daughter. Kunal and Mr Bharati did turn slightly violent when they saw her. Quite strangely, they both blamed her for what had happened. But Divya's mother did not say a word. She just went towards the trolley, lifted the veil that covered Divya's face, placed her head on Divya's chest and after some time, she walked out of the hospital. She returned later accompanied by Divya's uncle."

"Almost an hour later Sajid dashed into the hospital. The doctors on duty guided him to the lone trolley in the casualty ward. There lay his beautiful wife, dressed in black slacks and a black and white polka-dotted top, looking so much at peace with herself. Her hair was still soaked in blood yet Divya looked so angelic, so divine. On seeing Divya motionless, it appeared like the world had come crashing down for Sajid."

"He could not bear the shock. He literally froze for a moment and then fell on the ground with foam oozing out of his mouth. 'At first, we thought he too had consumed poison and that this was some kind of a suicide pact between the husband and wife,' revealed a doctor on duty. It was only when they tried to resuscitate him, Sajid started thumping violently. lt was then that the doctors realised it was a case of a heart attack. Sajid was immediately shifted to the lCCU (Intensive Cardiac Care Unit) of the hospital. Apparently, he too had been suffering from hypertension and high blood pressure. When he regained consciousness for a while, he told the doctors, 'My wife Divya is down there. They say she is dead. Please do something and try bringing her back to life".

"When he saw a nurse preparing an injection for him, he told her, 'Please don't give me an injection. I'm allergic to calmpose or anaesthesia of any kind.' Later he was administered some sedation and put to sleep."

"The first one to arrive from the film industry was Pahlaj Nihalani who came with his wife and sons. One of Divya's producers, Raju Mawani also walked in with him. It was then that Pahlaj took charge of the entire situation. The doctors had informed him that Mr Bharati had suffered a nervous breakdown and so it was he who got Divya's father admitted to the psychiatry ward of the hospital."

"By now, people from the industry had started trickling in. The Morani brothers along with their wives, Joyti - Divya's secretary's wife, Boney Kapoor, Govinda, the producers of 'Kartavya' Rahul Gupta and Sunil Saini, Sanjay Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Kamal Sadanah were among the first few to arrive."

"The police had also arrived and they were busy recording the statements from the two eye-witnesses, Neeta lulla and her husband. Neeta's version at the police station states, 'I was not sure whether Divya had jumped down or whether she had slipped accidentally because the sequence of events was in a split-second.' At the time of filing in this article, the police had still not recorded Divya's maid's statement for reasons best known to them. But the strangest version came from Sajid's father who told the police that Divya and Sajid were not married. 'In fact, they were supposed to get married after three months,' he revealed. It was really surprising and  shocking to note how people had still not matured after such a tragedy."

A close friend of Divya had revealed to Stardust back then, "Divya was very depressed that day. That's why she had cancelled her outdoor schedule to Hyderabad. In fact, that evening itself she had gone shopping to buy some stuff for the new house she was buying for herself and Sajid. After that, she went to a friend's party. She came home quite high in spirits and that's when she and Sajid had a major fight. At that time, Sajid was leaving his house to meet some distributor in the nearby Lokhandwala area. An angry Divya screamed at him. 'You come back in ten minutes or you won't see me,' she threatened. But Sajid didn't give any importance to her warning. He left. And within minutes after that, she was on the parapet. Neeta Lulla who was there was petrified. She asked Divya to come inside. But Divya with already a few pegs down refused. Neeta went up to her to get her back. In order to escape from Neeta's clutches, Divya jumped down. But now I don't know what Neeta is not disclosing all this."

Another friend of Divya who resided in the same building had a different story to tell. The friend stated, "Sajid and she had had a terrible fight that night. He was very upset with her about something and he was screaming at her for that. Divya who was already a few pegs down didn't know what to do. That's when she popped in some sleeping pills. Sajid was in a real panic. He immediately called up Dr Shyam Lulla Divya's psychiatrist who had been treating her for quite a few months now. Dr Shyam along with his designer wife Neeta came over to the house by around eleven p.m. Sajid and Divya were still fighting. From what I've heard, the Lullas apparently asked Sajid and Kunal (Divya's brother who was also present) to leave the house since they wanted to calm Divya down. The maid was also asked to remain in the kitchen. Divya who had been drinking all along came to the kitchen for a refill. And that was the last time the maid saw her alive. Divya went into the hall and the tragedy followed."

"Besides the fickle-mindedness of Sajid, the Nadiawalas and Divya's mother, what I found most appalling was the way the industry reacted to her death. They were all more worried about themselves.  Except for Nitin Manmohan, no other producer cancelled the shootings as a  mark of respect. Also except Hema Malini, Babita, Karisma Kapoor, Shilpa Shirodkar, Somy Ali, Sangeeta Bijlani, Sabeeha, Kamal Sadanah, Amrish Puri, Varsha Usgaonkar, Tabu and Sonu none of Divya's co-stars turned up for the funeral. They were all busy shooting. Everybody had reacted as if nothing had happened."