Actress Urmila Bhatt found murdered

Noted film actress and television personality Urmila Bhatt was found murdered at her residence in Juhu, north west Bombay on Saturday, February 22. The 63-year-old actress is survived by her husband, a son and a daughter.

According to the police, Bhatt's death came to light when her son-in-law, Vikram Parikh, who went to pay her a visit on Sunday, February 23, found that no one answered the door bell. Bhatt's neighbour told him that the maid servant too had left after ringing the door bell for long time in the morning.

Parikh immediately called his wife Rachana, who found the house ransacked and her mother, her throat slit, lying in a pool of blood. Bhatt was alone at home as her husband was away in Baroda. Police suspect robbery to be the motive. Though further investigations are on, no arrests have been made as yet.

Born in Dehradun, Bhatt started her career on the stage. She acted in more than 75 Gujarati films and also in 15 to 20 Rajasthani movies. Besides, she had also essayed character roles in Hindi films for over two decades. Lately, she had also been acting in many television serials.

In 1960, she joined Sangeet Kala Academy in Rajkot as a folk dancer and singer. It was during that time that her famous Gujarati drama Jesal Toral ran to more than a thousand performances. Bhatt had also been honoured with numerous awards by the government of Gujarat.

UNI