New Delhi:

The four-year-old son of Atul Subhash – the Bengaluru techie who died by suicide December – and Nikita Singhania – his estranged wife, whom he had accused of harassment leading to his death – was produced before the Supreme Court Monday evening.

Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice SC Sharma had directed Ms Singhania’s lawyer produce the child via video link. They were hearing a plea by Anju Devi, Mr Subhash’s mother, seeking the boy’s custody.

As the hearing began today, the petitioners sought a week’s time to file a more detailed affidavit. But Justice Nagarathna dismissed any such request, and said, “This is a habeas corpus (petition)… we want to see the child. Produce the child. The court will take up the matter after some time…”

This is the second time in as many hearings the court has demanded to see the boy.

Earlier this month Ms Singhania told the court the boy was a student of a boarding school in Haryana’s Faridabad, and that he would be withdrawn to accompany his mother to Bengaluru.

READ | Court’s “Stranger” Remark As Atul Subhash’s Mom Wants Grandson

“We will take the child to Bengaluru… We have taken the boy out of school. The mother must be in Bengaluru to fulfill bail conditions,” her lawyer said then, after which a bench of Justice Nagarathna and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said the child had to be produced before it for the next hearing.

Ms Singhania and members of her family – her mother, Nisha; and brother, Anurag – face charges of abetting the suicide of Atul Subhash, 34. Both were arrested and later given bail.

READ | Atul Subhash’s Wife, In-Laws Get Bail In Suicide Abetment Case

After Ms Singhania’s arrest, Ms Devi approached the Supreme Court for custody of her grandson. Mr Subhash’s father, Pawan Kumar, also publicly demanded custody of the young boy.

The petition claimed that neither Ms Singhania, nor her family members had disclosed the child’s whereabouts. Ms Singhania had said then the boy was with her uncle, Sushil Singhania.

READ | Atul Subhash’s Mother Goes To Court For 4-Year-Old Grandson

However, he later denied knowledge of the child’s location. The court then directed the governments of three states – Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana – to provide clarity on the situation.

The court then also noted the boy had spent barely any time with his grandmother.

“Sorry to say the child is a stranger to the petitioner,” Justice Nagarathna remarked, but also acknowledging the issue of custody would first have to be heard by an appropriate lower court.

Atul Subhash and Nikita Singhania were wed in 2019. The son was born in 2020. In 2021, Ms Singhania left the couple’s Bengaluru home after an altercation. In 2022, she filed a case against Mr Subhash and his family members.

After two years of bitter squabbles, Mr Subhash died by suicide at his Bengaluru flat on December 9.

In an 81-minute video and a 24-page suicide note, he accused Ms Singhania and her family of filing false cases against him and his parents to extort Rs 3 crore.

READ | “I Started Saving For Your Car”: Atul Subhash’s Letter To Son, 4

He also alleged the justice system is biased to favour women in such cases. The incident triggered outrage and debate on the misuse of laws created to protect women from cruelty by husband or in-laws.

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Prayagraj:

The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Sushil Singhania, uncle of Nikita Singhania, in the suicide case of Artificial Intelligence engineer Atul Subhash.

The order was passed by Justice Ashutosh Srivastava who was hearing an anticipatory bail filed by Atul’s wife Nikita Singhania and in-laws.

Nikita Singhania was arrested from Gurugram, Haryana, while her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania were picked up from Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj for abetting Subhash’s suicide, a Bengaluru Police official said.

They were arrested on Saturday morning, brought to Bengaluru and sent to 14-days judicial custody after being produced before a local court, he said.

In the Allahabad High Court, senior counsel Manish Tiwary, at the very outset, submitted that the wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law of the deceased have already been arrested by the Bengaluru City Police and the present anticipatory bail application is being pressed on behalf of the applicant Sushil Singhania alone.

It was argued that the arrests have been made on the basis of alleged suicide note and a video which have gone viral over the internet. Sushil Singhania is facing the media trial of the highest level, it was argued.

It was also submitted that Sushil Singhania is an elderly person of 69 years of age and has a chronic medical condition. He is virtually incapacitated and there is no question of him abetting the suicide, it was further submitted.

It was also argued that there is a distinction between abetment and harassment and if the suicide note is taken on its face value, the allegations levelled at most would be taken to be harassment for implicating the deceased in false cases and extracting huge sums of money.

In any case, the offence suicide under Section 108, 3(5) of the BNS cannot be said to be made out, it was argued.

It has also been argued that the Sushil Singhania be granted protection for reasonable time so that he is in a position to place his version before the court and the authorities concerned and take recourse to remedy available to him under the law before the court in the state of Karnataka from where the FIR emanates.

After hearing the counsels for the parties, the court observed, “Considering the above, the court is of the opinion that applicant Sushil Singhania is entitled to get the privilege of pre-arrest (Transit) Anticipatory.” “Accordingly, it is directed that in the event of arrest of the applicant in connection with the case crime no. 0682 of 2024 under Section 108, 3(5) of the BNS, Police Station Marathahalli, Bangaluru City, he shall be released on anticipatory bail in the aforesaid case till the submission of police report, if any under section 173 (2) CrPC on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Magistrate/Court concerned,” the court said.

The court also imposed some conditions like the applicant shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required. He shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police office and he shall not leave India without the previous permission of the court.

If the applicant has a passport, it shall be deposited by him before the SSP or SP concerned, the court said.

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

Nikita Singhania, the estranged wife of 34-year-old techie Atul Subhash, her mother Nisha and brother Anurag have been arrested in an abetment to suicide case, days after Atul died by suicide after accusing Nikita and his family of harassment and extortion.

The Singhanias have been produced in court and will be remanded in custody. Earlier, Bengaluru police had asked them to appear within three days.

Nikita Singhania and her family members are at the centre of massive outrage over Atul Subhash’s death by suicide and the allegations he made against them in a 24-page suicide note and an 80-minute video. The 34-year-old techie, originally from Bihar’s Samastipur, was found dead at his Bengaluru flat on Monday. Police found a detailed note at his home, with every page starting with “justice is due”.

In his suicide note and video, Subhash alleged that he married Nikita in 2019 after finding her on a matchmaking website. The couple had a son the next year. He alleged that Nikita and her family would ask him for huge amounts of money to set up businesses. Arguments broke out when he refused and she eventually left home in 2021 with their son.

The next year, Atul alleged, she filed a litany of cases against him and his family members under serious charges of cruelty against a woman, dowry harassment and even murder. The Singhanias accused Atul and his family members of harassing Nikita’s late father for dowry, leading to his death. This case was, however, later withdrawn.

Atul Subhash said before his death that Nikita and her family members had filed multiple cases to harass him and extort a huge sum as alimony and maintenance. He said Nikita had demanded Rs 3 crore to settle the case. He also said that the court had asked him to pay Rs 80,000 monthly as maintenance to Nikita and his son, but she wanted more.

Also targeting the judicial system of favouring women in such cases, Subhash wrote in the note, “The more I work hard and become better at my work, the more I and my family will be harassed and extorted and the whole legal system will encourage and help my harassers… Now, with me gone, there won’t be any money and there won’t be any reason to harass my old parents and my brother. I may have destroyed my body but it has saved everything I believe in.”

He also accused Nikita and her mother Nisha of instigating him to die on two occasions.

Following his death, his brother Bikas Kumar filed an abetment to suicide case against Nikita, her mother Nisha, brother Anurag and uncle Sushil Singhania. Atul’s family alleged that he was under severe stress because of the legal fight and that he had to travel between Bengaluru and Jaunpur 40 times. They also said that Nikita refused to let him meet their son and demanded money for that too. Nikita’s uncle Sushil Singhania earlier told the media that Atul’s allegations are baseless and that they are innocent.