“It is hard to believe that our Jacintha committed suicide in London. She was not a girl of such mindset,” said Irene D’Souza, the dead nurse’s sister-in-law.
Jacintha Saldanha, from Shirva in Udupi district, was the nurse at London’s King Edward VII Hospital tricked into transferring a prank call from two Austra-lian radio presenters seeking news about the pregnant Duchess of Cam-bridge. “On Friday around 8 pm, Benedict (Jacintha’s husband) called me and said she was no more. The police came home and told Benedict that Jacintha had committed suicide,” Irene, Benedict’s elder sister, told this newspaper. “It is difficult to believe she committed suicide... Husband and wife had a close bond. She did not have any reason to kill herself,” she said, adding that Benedict said he would be able to see the body only on Monday.
Benedict, who works with the NHS, is left with their children Junal (16) and Lisa (14). Jacintha’s mother-in-law Carmine Barboza was in tears. "I don’t know anything. Benedict called Irene...,” she said, adding that the couple had come to Shriva last Christmas.