Mumbai:

A court here on Friday granted bail to Aditya Pandit, the jailed boyfriend of an Air India pilot who allegedly committed suicide last month.

Pilot Srishti Tuli (25), who lived in a rented flat in the ‘Kanakia Rain Forest’ building in Marol area, was found dead in the early hours of November 25.

A day later, police arrested Pandit (27), her boyfriend, and charged him with abetment of suicide under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 108.

His bail application was allowed by Additional Sessions Judge (Dindoshi court) T T Aglawe. But the detailed order has not bee made available yet.

The complaint lodged by Tuli’s father said the accused and his daughter were residing in the same room for five-six days prior to her suicide. However, on the day of the incident the accused left for Delhi.

As per the complaint, the accused and the deceased had different food preferences and this was a matter of contention between them.

Tuli was a non-vegetarian and the accused a vegetarian. Pandit constantly put pressure on Tuli to change her food habits may have led her to commit suicide, the complainant alleged.

However, Pandit’s lawyer, Aniket Nikam argued that a case of abetment of suicide was not made out.

“Merely because there were some fights between both of them, it would not mean that the applicant had any criminal intent,” he said.

Nikam further argued that in order to attract the charge of abetment, it was necessary to show that the deceased was left with no other option but to commit suicide.

“This was not so in the present case. The deceased was an educated lady. If she was unhappy in the relationship, she could have always walked out of it or if she was being harassed by the accused she could have complained about it,” he said.

Neither there was any complaint earlier nor any suicide note, and hence it cannot be said that the applicant abetted the suicide, the lawyer argued.

Pandit, in his bail application, mentioned that when he was on his way to the national capital, he called Tuli multiple times, but got no response. He got worried and rushed back to Mumbai and found the door of her flat locked from inside.

When Tuli did not open the door despite repeated knocks, Pandit called a key maker and got it opened. On finding his girlfriend hanging in the flat, he, as a law-abiding citizen, rushed her to hospital in order to save her life. However, the said effort became infructuous, his petition said.

“It is submitted that without admitting any of the allegations, even if, the entire FIR is taken as it is, it does not indicate any such abetment of suicide. Only because an FIR has been registered by the respondents, the applicant (Pandit) came to be arrested,” it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gorakhpur, Mumbai:

Family members of the 25-year-old Air India pilot found dead at her Mumbai home have alleged that her boyfriend, who has been arrested for abetment to suicide, would humiliate her publicly, harass her mentally and extort money from her.

Srishti Tuli was found dead at her rented home in Mumbai’s Marol area on Monday. She allegedly used a data cable to hang herself after an argument with her boyfriend Aditya Pandit (27) over the phone. Aditya has told police that he rushed to her flat to find the door locked. A key maker was called in, the door was opened Srishti was rushed to hospital, where she was declared dead. Police have not found a suicide note in the flat.

Srishti was from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and her family is struggling to cope with the shocking loss. Her uncle Vivek Tuli said, “They are saying she died by suicide, but I don’t believe it. This is planned murder. She was strong, otherwise she would not be a pilot. We have come to know about her friend (Aditya), who started training with her but could not complete the course. He was jealous of her and would harass her.”

According to the FIR, Srishti met Aditya during her training for commercial flying in Delhi. While she completed the course, Aditya dropped out. Srishti moved to Mumbai last year after getting her flying license.

Mr Tuli said they had gone through Srishti’s bank account statement. “We have managed to check only one month’s statement so far. Around Diwali, about Rs 65,000 was transferred to his family members. I am convinced that he was blackmailing her. I have now asked the bank for the whole year’s statement. Maybe, she had refused him money and that became the cause of her death.”

Aditya lives in Faridabad near Delhi and often travelled to Mumbai to stay with Srishti. “Police are saying that she died by suicide. I don’t know how he manipulated her and pushed her to the edge. What did he do? She spoke to her mother and aunt cheerfully just 15 minutes before her death.” 

Mr Tuli said Srishti had not told her family about any harassment she was facing. “She had narrated bits and pieces to her sister. But when I met her friends, they told me the extent to which he harassed her. He would scream at her publicly. There were times when he made her get out of the car in the middle of the road and drove away,” he said.

He said the family would approach Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for justice. “We are from Gorakhpur. I would go and request Yogi ji for justice. I cannot accept that she died by suicide.”

Mr Tuli alleged that another woman pilot was involved in Srishti’s death. “We came to know that another woman was there. She called in the keymaker, got him to open the door and took Srishti to the hospital. Who opens the door and enters someone’s flat without calling the cops? And these are trained pilots. And why would a key maker randomly open a door from outside?” The family has alleged that Aditya also pressured Srishti to stop eating non-vegetarian food. Recently, they fought after she could not attend his sister’s engagement ceremony.

The family has filed a complaint and the police have registered an FIR under the abetment to suicide charge and arrested Aditya

Mumbai:

A 25-year-old Air India pilot, who allegedly died by suicide at her flat in Mumbai, reportedly faced constant harassment and public humiliation from her boyfriend.

Details available in the first information report (FIR) registered against 27-year-old Aditya Pandit, who has been arrested, revealed that he also pressured the woman, Srishti Tuli, to change her food habits and stop eating non-vegetarian food.

The FIR, which was filed at Powai police station based on a complaint by Srishti’s uncle Vivekkumar Narendrakumar Tuli, cited several instances where Aditya allegedly ill-treated his girlfriend, leaving her disturbed.

The uncle said that, in November last year, his car was used by Aditya to take his daughter Rashi and Srishti shopping in Delhi. An argument broke out between the couple, during which Aditya used derogatory language against Srishti in front of Rashi, and even rammed another vehicle with the car in anger.

Vivekkumar said his car suffered damage but Aditya appeared unaffected by it.

Argument Over Food

Another incident where Srishti was allegedly again publicly humiliated by Aditya took place in March this year, when the couple had gathered with Rashi and her friends for dinner in Gurugram.

Aditya reportedly insulted Srishti when she and the others suggested they have non-vegetarian food. After an argument, the couple eventually left to have vegetarian food but minutes later, Srishti called up Rashi, saying Aditya had left her on the road and gone home.

Vivekkumar said after the incident, Srishti told his daughter that she had been suffering because of the relationship but was unable to cut ties with Aditya since she loved him.

The complaint also listed another such incident, which took place days later.

Vivekkumar said that Aditya had to attend a family function and wanted Srishti to accompany him. He allegedly kept pressuring his girlfriend to attend the event despite knowing that she was supposed to pilot a flight that day. As another argument erupted, Aditya blocked Srishti’s phone number for around 10 to 12 days, leaving her anxious.

The complaint said that Srishti was always worried as Aditya would often humiliate her in public and block her number for trivial reasons.

Arrested For Abetment

The couple had met two years ago while the woman was pursuing a commercial pilot course in Delhi and the two began a relationship soon after, the FIR claimed.

Srishti’s body was found in her rented flat at Kanakia Rainforest building in Andheri’s Marol area on Monday. Police said she allegedly hanged herself with a data cable earlier that day, but no suicide note was recovered.

Aditya was arrested on Tuesday section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He was produced in court, which sent him to police custody till November 29.