Update: Poonam Pandey is not dead. She faked her own death to raise awareness about cervical cancer. She is alive. Read more here. Old report continues below which is based on her lie.
Hours after the news of the sudden death of model actress Poonam Pandey was announced on her Instagram page early on 2nd February, mystery has surrounded the incident. Notably, the Instagram post said that she was suffering from cervical cancer. Now there are reports claiming that the family of Pandey has become unreachable, and there is no confirmation about the death apart from the social media post.
A report by India Today said that Poonam Pandey’s sister and other members of the family are ‘missing’, and their phones are switched off. The report cited a source who claimed that they received a call from Poonam’s sister earlier this morning, informing about Poonam’s death and that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
After the news was published on Poonam’s Instagram account, that person tried to contact Poonam’s sister, but this time her phone was found switched off. Moreover, that person added that other members of the family are also unreachable.
As per the India Today report, the source said, “We tried calling Poonam’s sister after our last call with her but ever since, her phone has been switched off. Not only that, but her other family members are also not reachable. We tried to get in touch with 2-3 members of Poonam’s team as well and, surprisingly, everybody’s phone is either switched off or unreachable. Hence, we are also confused at this moment.”
Later it was revealed that Poonam Pandey’s team also received the news of the death from Poonam’s sister only, and they are yet to confirm the report of the death directly. Poonam Pandey’s media manager Parul Chawla said, “this is to place on record that we have received a call from her family member (sister) this morning regarding her sudden demise (as posted on her official Insta id). We are awaiting further information from the family to update everyone. We will release official statement as we receive the further update to be shared.”
Pandey’s agency Picture N Kraft also said they have not heard from the family after the initial information about the death. They said in the morning they received a call from Poonam’s family that she is no more. After they have been trying to contact the family, but have been unable to talk to anyone. That is why they have not released any official statement yet, the agency added.
In another incident adding to the mystery, questions have been raised on an email confirming the death purportedly sent to several media houses by Pandey’s manager Nikita Sharma. The email said that Poonam Pandey passed away due to cervical cancer. But the phone number mentioned in the email turned out to be wrong.
Moreover, a security guard in Mumbai told PTI that he was with Pandey till just two days ago.
Social media was filled with messages expressing doubt about the report of the death, especially because the cause was said to be cervical cancer. Many people noted that Poonam Pandey was seen to be active just 2-3 days ago in visuals posts on social media, and she didn’t look like she was suffering from the last stages of cervical cancer. She was riding a bike, swimming in photos and videos posted in the last few days.
Notably, most kinds of cancers are slow killers, they do not kill patients suddenly like stroke or heart attacks. Several people pointed out that cervical cancer patients don’t die suddenly. Cancer patients who don’t survive become very ill and weak during their last days, which seemed not to be the case with Poonam Pandey. Moreover, most cancers nowadays can be treated and even cured when detected in time.
