Atul Subhash suicide case: Techie wife gets Bengaluru Police notice, asked to record statement in 3 days

Atul Subhash suicide case: A 34-year-old engineer died by suicide in Bengaluru on December 9 allegedly due to harassment by his estranged wife and her family. A case of abetment to suicide has been filed against Nikita Singhania and her family members.

Atul Subhash suicide case: A four-member team of Bengaluru Police, including one woman police personnel, today (December 13) arrived in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur which is the residence of the wife of Atul Subhash, the techie who died by suicide and pasted a notice.

"There are reasonable grounds to interrogate you (Nikita Singhania) to ascertain the facts and circumstances. You are directed to appear before the investigating officer at Bengaluru within 3 days," reads the notice.

Atul Subhash, the 34-year-old deputy general manager of a private firm, died by suicide on Monday (December 9) in his Bengaluru apartment, leaving behind a 24-page suicide note, accusing his wife and her relatives of harassment. 

Nikita Singhania to appear before investigating officer at Marathahalli police station

According to Circle Officer (City) Ayush Srivastava, the Bengaluru City Police notice said, "Nikita Singhania to appear before the investigating officer at Marathahalli police station, Bengaluru, within three days for interrogation regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband, Atul Subhash."

The notice, addressed solely to Singhania, did not mention other accused family members, including her mother Nisha Singhania, uncle Sushil Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania despite their names being in the FIR.

At the time the notice was pasted, the main door of the house was locked and no family members were present. The Bengaluru City Police team arrived in Jaunpur late on Thursday.

After meeting Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Pal Sharma, the team proceeded to the city police station for further action. The team planned to visit the civil court in Jaunpur to gather information about cases previously filed by Singhania, Srivastava said.

Allegations made by Atul Subhash in suicide note 

In his suicide note, he also alleged that a judge had demanded Rs 5 lakh to settle the case. The father of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash who died by suicide, said his son had been broken from inside after multiple cases were filed against him and his family by his wife.

"My son used to say that there is a lot of corruption but he will fight as he is on the path of truth...He was broken from inside, though he didn't tell anyone anything," Subhash's father Pawan Kumar told media.

Kumar, who currently stays in Bihar's Samastipur, said Subhash's wife started filing cases against them in January 2021.

"She started filing cases since January 2021...My son had thought that she had left (their home) after Corona and that their 1-year-old son would grow up a little at his maternal uncle's home... she also started filing cases against our entire family," the father said.

Supreme Court on misuse of Section 498A 

Earlier on December 11, the Supreme Court also expressed concern over the growing tendency to misuse Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which penalises cruelty by husbands and their relatives against married women. While quashing a Section 498A IPC case against a husband and his parents in a different case, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh said that the Section became a tool for unleashing personal vendetta against the husband and his family by a wife.

Subhash wrote "Justice is due" on every page of a 24-page note. He also alleged in his suicide note that his wife had filed nine cases against him under various sections, including murder, sexual misconduct, harassment for money, domestic violence, and dowry.