‘Haqeeqat’ Film Actress Priya Rajvansh Was Brutally ‘Murdered’ In Her Bathroom! – Part 2
Actress Priya Rajvansh may not be known to the present generation but her hit films and their hit songs will immediately revive public memory of the beautiful actress who gave many hit films. The highlight of her films was hit songs like Milo Na Tum To… (Heer Raanjha -1970); Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho, To Yeh Lagta Hai, Ke Jahaan Mil Gaya… (Hanste Zakhm – 1973) or the hit song Hai Tere Saath Meri Wafa… (Hindustan Ki Kasam – 1973). However, she is better remembered as the actress of hit film Haqeeqat (1964).
Readers would be left stunned to know that the bewitchingly gorgeous actress was brutally ‘Murdered’! Though the police tried to dispose–off the murder as an accidental death Mumbai Police proved it was cold-blooded Murder! Priya’s brother’s Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh fought her case tooth and nail and eventually, put the killers behind bars!!
Priya Rajvansh hailed from a rich family. Her father was a government official. During an a UN assignment he was sent to London. Priya accompanied him and after graduation learned dramatics from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, UK. Back in India, she was noticed by filmmaker Chetan Anand (the elder brother of film actor Dev Anand). He introduced her in his classic film Haqeeqat (1964). During the making of the film, love blossomed between the two and they came close. Despite Chetan Anand married he began to live-in-relation with Priya.
Though Priya had a separate bungalow before Chetan Anand died in 1997, he left a will in which he categorically declared that three-fourths of his bungalow in Bandra (Mumbai) should go to Priya Rajvansh and the remaining to be shared between the two sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand. However, after his death, Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand proposed to sell the bungalow but Priya denied and this created enmity.
The two brothers cleverly conspired a plot and killed Priya. However, the murder was so well-executed and it appeared as if Priya had slipped in her bathroom and died accidentally. The police initially disposed-off the case as accidental death but Priya‘s brothers Kamaljit Singh (Gulu) and Padamjit Singh hired an intelligent lawyer, who succeeded in proving that the death was NOT an accident but a planned murder!
The prosecution proved that Priya was strangulated to death after being hit with a sharp object on the head. The prosecution also produced a letter of Priya in which she expressed fear that her life was in danger. And last but not the least; the prosecution presented an eyewitness Suresh Arumugham (16), a distant relative of Mala Choudhary, a maid working in the house of Chetan Anand. In his statement Suresh informed that he had come to meet his aunt Maya from the village. During his short stay, he heard the foursome Ketan and Vivek Anand explaining the maid Mala Choudhary and servant Ashok Chinnaswamy the plan to kill Priya Rajvansh. It was planned to kill while she took bath and make it look like accidental death.
As per the evidence, the judge had charged all the four viz. Ketan Anand, Vivek Anand, maid Mala Choudhary and servant Ashok Chinnaswamy under section 302 (murder) and 120-b (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to life imprisonment in July 2002 but they were released on bail in 2011.