Body of 25-year-old found in her flat in Mumbai's Juhu neighbourhood

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Bollywood actor Jiah Khan has been found dead at her home in Mumbai.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the body of the 25-year-old was found hanged in her apartment by her mother in Mumbai's Juhu neighbourhood late on Monday.

Khan, whose real name was Nafisa Khan, was born in New York and grew up in London before moving to Mumbai.

She made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with Ram Gopal Varma's Nishabd, playing the 18-year-old female lead opposite one of India's leading actors, Amitabh Bachchan, in a film loosely based on Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

"Never ever seen a debutant actress with more spunk and more spirit than Jiah when I was directing her in Nishabd," film-maker Varma wrote on Twitter.

"I don't know the reason what led to this but Jiah was very depressed about her career and scared for her future," he said in another tweet.

The Times of India reported that her maid, watchman and neighbours were being questioned by police to find out her last visitors. The newspaper quoted police sources as saying the incident happened at about 11pm and no suicide note was found. The body has been sent to a local hospital for a postmortem.

In her brief career she performed with other top Bollywood stars, including Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar.

Khan last appeared in the 2010 comedy Housefull, in which she played a supporting role.

Actor Riteish Deshmukh, who worked with her in Housefull, tweeted: "Nothing worse than waking up to a bad news – shocked n dumb struck – RIP Jiah. She was full of life and had incredible sense of humour. She was a friend n will miss her. Am deeply saddened."