Anil Cherian, the late Jiah Khan’s former stylist, died mysteriously at a bungalow near Gorai Beach, Mumbai. According to police sources, Anil had gone to a Gorai bungalow for a private party with his girlfriend and other friends on Saturday night. What happened at the bungalow still remains shrouded in mystery. It was only when Anil’s wife, designer Shivani lodged a missing complaint that police thought something was amiss and commenced their investigations by questioning Anil’s friends. Finding out that Anil had gone for a party to Gorai, they rushed to the spot only to find Anil’s dead body floating in a well. We tried getting in touch with Anil’s friends actors Mohan Kapoor and Rajesh Khera to know more. Both sounded shell-shocked. Rajesh said that Anil was more of an acquaintance than a friend and he felt that partying must have done Anil in. Mohan Kapoor, on the other hand, said that although Anil was his friend and they partied a lot in the past, he had not been in touch with Anil for the past couple of months. “I got to know about his death through Facebook and I really don’t know what to say. He used to design clothes for me. I am at this point speechless.” We then called up Shekhar Suman, Anil’s long time friend and confidante. Shekhar sounded absolutely devastated over the phone. Speaking straight from the funeral, Shekhar said that he last spoke to Anil on 7 September. “I rang him up on the 7th to invite him for the screening of my movie Heartless and he said he would surely make it. When I didn’t see him yesterday night (the day of the screening), I tried reaching him on his cell but couldn’t. So I called his wife Shivani. Someone else answered her phone and told me that Anil has died and Shivani is at a mortuary in Bhandup with the body. I was stupefied and didn’t know what to say.” Shekhar, whose friendship with Anil goes almost 10 years back, was one of his closest friends in the industry. “I was introduced to Anil and Shivani and since then we have been close friends. But just six months back, Anil mysteriously disconnected himself from everyone, including me and started staying aloof,” revealed Shekhar and also added that Shivani too was of late troubled by Anil’s strange behavior. Although Anil was married to Shivani, he had a girlfriend who was allegedly with him on that fateful night. When asked about the same, Shekhar confirmed the same. “See, Anil used to meet a lot of girls and yes, I think he had a girlfriend but I don’t know much about it.” Partying has been the bane for many actors in the past. Anil too was a social animal someone whom Shekhar describes as gregarious and soul-of-the-party kind of a person but believes that is not the cause of his death. Shekhar also rubbished any theory of Anil committing suicide and said that “Anil was mentally a very strong individual.” Shekhar also denied any knowledge of the people Anil was partying with the night he died. “They were not a part of my friends circle.” At the time of filing this story, Anil’s funeral was underway at Santacruz while police had detained Anil’s girlfriend and his other friends for further investigation. Yet, another brilliant life cut short by a tragic end and just like Jiah Khan, Anil’s mysterious death too points to a deeper malaise. All we can say at this moment is ‘May Anil’s soul Rest in Peace.’