The family of Payel Chakraborty, a Bengali television and film actor who allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday, has said there were problems in her personal life and that may have led her to take the extreme step.

Payel’s body was found hanging in a hotel room in Siliguri on Wednesday, and the police said it appeared to be a case of suicide.

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The Siliguri Metropolitan police have registered a case of unnatural death and said they were awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of death. The autopsy will be conducted at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in Siliguri.

READ | Bengali actor Payel Chakraborty found dead in Siliguri hotel, suicide suspected

Payal Chakraborty, 36, was a resident of New Garia in Kolkata, and her family members reached Siliguri on Thursday. They said she was suffering from “depression”.

“We had been trying to get in touch with her since the day she left, but could not trace her. After that, we visited her residence in New Garia as she used to live alone owing to her ongoing problems with her husband, but we could not find her there too. Later, we got a phone call from the police saying that our daughter is no more,” said Prabir Guha, father of the deceased.

He said Payel’s divorce proceedings were going on and she had pleaded before the court for her son’s custody. “However, before the verdict of the court, her husband, Sumit Chakraborty, kept their son in his custody, which led her to depression. She frequently used to discuss the incident with family members and was mentally broken, which may have led to such an act,” added Mr Guha.

According to the Siliguri hotel staff, Payel had checked in alone on Tuesday and had said she planned to visit Sikkim. On Wednesday morning, her room was closed for a long time. Despite repeated knocks on the door for cleaning purposes, she did not respond. The staff said they sensed something was wrong and called the police. The police broke open the door and found Payel’s body hanging from the ceiling fan. She had used her scarf to hang herself, said the police.

Mr Guha said Payal had shooting schedules this week in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.