Singer and actor Samar Singh, accused in the death of popular Bhojpuri actress Akanksha Dubey, was arrested by Varanasi police on Thursday night from Ghaziabad. He hiding in a housing society in the Nandgram area of Ghaziabad.
Dubey was found dead inside a hotel room in Varanasi on March 26. The 25-year-old actress was found hanging from the ceiling fan. Dubey, a resident of Bhadohi district, had gone to Varanasi to film a movie and was staying in the hotel since March 22.
Akanksha’s mother Madhu Dubey had subsequently filed an FIR at Sarnath police station against Samar and his relative Sanjay Singh on charges of abetment to suicide.
“A team from the Sarnath police station of the Varanasi Commissionerate had come to Ghaziabad late Thursday night. They sought the help of Ghaziabad police in nabbing Samar Singh from the Charms Castle (housing) society,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ghaziabad City) Nipun Agarwal said, as quoted by PTI.
The accused is being presented in a Ghaziabad court for transit remand by the Varanasi police team, the DCP said on Friday morning.
Lawyer Shashak Shekhar Tripathi, who has taken up the case for Madhu Dubey, on Wednesday demanded an investigation by the CBI or CB-CID into the case, and raised questions over the post-mortem report.
In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he alleged that Dubey did not die by suicide, but rather killed by someone present in the hotel. He further alleged that Akanksha was “forcibly cremated”, despite her mother’s request that the body should be cremated only after her post-mortem.
Tripathi also said that many prominent people from the Bhojpuri film industry exploited her, and had not paid her for work.