New Delhi:

After a year of struggling with depression, addiction and personal setbacks, Abhinav Singh of Odisha’s Cuttack was on the mend. A healthy diet, daily morning walks with his father and a new job in Bengaluru meant life was on track. However, barely a week after reaching the Karnataka capital, he was dead, his body found face-down on the floor of his bedroom.

According to the police, Abhinav, 32, died by suicide after consuming poison at his rented apartment in Bengaluru’s Kadubeesanahalli area on February 9, just a week after moving to the Karnataka capital for work. Abhinav had previously worked in Bengaluru for many years, working as an automation testing engineer at a leading firm.

Abhinav’s family has accused his wife and in-laws of mental harassment that allegedly drove him to suicide.

On the night of the incident, Abhinav had dinner with a friend before returning to his room, where he allegedly consumed poison. An empty bottle of poison was found in the bedroom, which the police believe he had purchased online and received the previous evening.

“We do not yet know what kind of poison he consumed and are awaiting a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory,” police said.

Photo Credit: Image posted on Facebook by Abhinav Singh

News agency PTI, citing a senior police officer, said no suicide note was recovered from Abhinav’s flat. However, his mother has told local media that Mr Singh did leave behind a handwritten note, which has been seized by Bengaluru police.

On Tuesday night, Abhinav’s body was flown from Bengaluru to Cuttack where the family performed the last rites. 

Abhinav’s family has alleged that his wife subjected him to mental harassment, which ultimately pushed him to the brink. His father, Bijaynanda Singh, a noted author and academician, has filed a complaint at Lalbagh police station in Cuttack, naming Abhinav’s wife, his in-laws and other individuals. 

According to local media reports, things between Abhinav and his wife were rocky after he was reportedly caught at a hotel in Bhubaneswar with other women last year. Accompanied by police officers, Abhinav’s wife recorded the bust. The video of the incident went viral on social media. Around that time, an Odia actress accused him of preventing the release of her music video and allegedly attacking her. Abhinav had denied all accusations, claiming he was the target of a conspiracy orchestrated by the actress and her associates. 

Abhinav and his wife had separated but since he was recovering and getting his life back on track, there were attempts by both to patch things between them. Speaking to NDTV, Abhinav’s wife said that both of them often spoke on the phone working towards resolving their issues. 

“These are baseless allegations. His family knows I loved and cared for him,” Abhinav’s wife told NDTV. “I had moved out of my in-laws’ house but I loved Abhinav and wanted nothing but the best for him in life.” 

A resident of Cuttack’s Kaligali, Abhinav was one of the pioneering figures in Odisha’s hip-hop scene. Known by his stage name “Juggernaut”, Abhinav was a rapper whose songs have garnered millions of views on YouTube. His channel and production company Urban Loafer is one of the earliest platforms to support local hip-hop talent in Odisha, a state not often associated with Western music. 

Abhinav, more often than not, poured all of his money from his engineering job into buying mics, production gear, musical instruments and tech to create songs for himself and other musicians in the Odisha hip-hop scene.

Bengaluru:

The family of the 34-year-old techie who allegedly died by suicide, has demanded justice for him and strict action against his harassers, so that his “soul can rest in peace”.

Atul Subhash, whose body was found hanging at his residence at Manjunath Layout area in Bengaluru, had left a 24-page purported death note, giving extensive details of what he alleged was years-long emotional distress and harassment by his wife and relatives, and a judge based in Uttar Pradesh, and a multiple cases filed against him, police said.

Following Subhash’s death, a case of abetment of suicide was registered against his wife Nikita Singhania, her mother Nisha, father Anurag and uncle Sushil on Tuesday, a police official said.

Meanwhile, a police team probing the matter has reached Uttar Pradesh. The team will question the dead techie’s wife and her family members as part of the probe. “We are looking into all the allegations and the matter is being investigated from all angles”, a senior police officer said.

Speaking to PTI Videos in Bengaluru, Subhash’s brother Bikas said, “I want my brother to get justice. I want this country to have a legal process through which even men can get justice. I want strict action against those sitting on a legal chair and doing corruption because if this continues, how will people expect justice.” Alleging corruption in the system, he said justice could only be expected when it is corruption-free. When every party is heard equally and arguments are done based on facts, he added.

“….can expect justice only when decisions are made based of facts and if it does not happen, then people will slowly start losing faith in the judicial system. It may lead to a situation where people may get afraid to get married. Men may start feeling that if they get married, they will just end up being an ATM for vending money,” he alleged.

Subhash’s body was found hanging at his residence in the Manjunath Layout area, which falls under the Marathahalli police station limits, on Monday. A placard reading “Justice is due” was found in the room where he allegedly ended his life.

Before taking the extreme step, he recorded an over 80-minute video on Rumble, explaining the circumstances behind his decision.

In the video, which has gone viral on social media platforms, Subhash can be heard saying, “I feel that I should kill myself because the money I earn is making my enemies stronger. That same money will be used to destroy me, and this cycle will keep going.” Subhash’s uncle Pawan Kumar alleged his nephew was being harassed and tortured for money and that he was also humiliated by his wife and the judge.

“What has happened is very unfortunate. He was losing the case (filed by his wife). He was being tortured. They (wife and family) were constantly demanding money from him. To the best of his capacity, he was giving her money for child maintenance,” his uncle claimed.

Initially, the family demanded Rs 40,000 per month, doubled it later, and then wanted Subhash to provide Rs 1 lakh.

Kumar also charged that Subhash’s wife and her family was ‘minting’ money from his nephew under the pretext of child maintenance, for the couple’s four-year-old son.

He wondered how much money would be required to raise a child of this age.

“His wife even said that he should commit suicide if he cannot pay the amount to which the judge also laughed. This really hurt him,” he alleged.

Kumar said the family had no idea Subhash may do something like this. “He had made a time-table for everything.” Subhash’s cousin, Bajrang Agarwal alleged that the victim’s wife and family were constantly demanding money from him. Till the time he was giving money, things were fine.

“When he stopped paying exorbitant amounts as per their demands, the dispute started again and she started living separately with the child. A divorce case was going on. They filed so many cases against him, that he broke down and he ended his wife,” he told PTI videos in Samastipur.

He demanded that those who had harassed Subhash should be punished so that he coulf get justice and his “soul could rest in peace.” Meanwhile, Nikita’s uncle, Sushil Kumar claimed himself innocent and said that neither he nor any member of his family was present at the scene of the incident.

“I came to know that I am also named in the FIR. I am innocent. I wasn’t even there. We got to know about his suicide through the media. None of our family members were present at the scene of the incident. There has been a case going on in the court for the last three years and in this duration, we have had no communication with him or his family. We are not at fault. Case is going on… Court will decide and give the verdict,” he told PTI Videos in Jaunpur.

He further said that allegations levelled by Subhash are false and Nikita will soon answer to all the allegations.

According to police, preliminary investigations revealed Subhash had been facing marital discord with his wife, who had also registered a case against him in Uttar Pradesh. He also sent his death note via email to several people and shared it with a WhatsApp group of an NGO he was associated with, the officer said.

In his purported death note, Subhash mentioned getting married in 2019. The couple had their son the following year. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)