/ 5 March 2006

Police say TK was possibly strangled

The late R&B singer Tsakani ”TK” Mhinga was allegedly strangled before her death, the Sunday Times reported on Saturday night.

The paper said it has been told by ”three sources” that foul play could not be ruled out in the death of Mhinga, who was buried early on Saturday.

”The Sunday Times has been told that the investigating officer had entered into a computer at the Johannesburg mortuary in Braamfontein under TK’s body number — 357/2006 — that the possible cause of her death was ‘strangulation”’.

It said tissues from her neck where marks were found was removed during the post mortem examination and sent for testing to find out if she had been strangled.

She could also have died from a drug overdose and police know who supplied her with drugs, the paper said in a front-page story.

Meanwhile, the Saturday Star reported that police on Friday arrested the wife of an alleged Midrand drug dealer who Mhinga regularly visited. Johannesburg police on Saturday said they had not made any arrests in the case.

Mhinga (27) was found dead in a hotel in Bryanston on Monday.

She had been scheduled to start work on a new album that day.

The report said the alleged dealer lived in a townhouse complex called La Michelle. Mhinga is said to have visited the Nigerian on a daily basis.

Often Mhinga did not sign the entry register, instead giving guards copies of her albums.

When the Saturday Star visited the complex this week, ”the dealers were openly selling drugs”.

The post mortem results of Mhinga would not be released to the public before a full investigation was completed.

”The content of the post mortem report will not be made known till the inquest hearing, as this will be presented in court as evidence,” spokesperson Captain Schalk Bornman said.

The post mortem results would be ready in four to six weeks, he said. – Sapa