A 25-year-old Air India pilot allegedly died by suicide in her rented flat in Mumbai, following which her boyfriend has was arrested on Tuesday on charges of abetment to suicide.
The woman, Srishti Tuli, was found dead in Andheri's Marol on Monday, and her Gorakhpur-based family suspect that the 27-year-old accused, Aditya Pandit, killed her and was portraying her death as a case of suicide. The family has alleged that she was abused in public by Pandit and was even stopped from eating non-vegetarian food.
On Monday, Tuli was found dead at her accomodation located behind Marol Police Camp in Andheri (East) and the initial inquiries show that her mental health was disturbed due to constant harassment by the accused.
Pandita Arrested For Abetting Suicide
According to preliminary police probe, Tuli had returned from work on Sunday, following which she had an argument with the accused, who had been visiting her quite frequently of late. He left the flat at around 1 AM to go to Delhi.
It was then that Tuli called him to tell that she was going to take the extreme step. When he returned to her place the door was locked from the inside. He then called a key maker to get into the flat, and found her unresponsive, The Indian Express reported citing police.
The accused reportedly rushed her to Seven Hills Hospital in Marol where the woman was declared dead. Her family was informed.
Senior Inspector of Powai police station Jitendra Sonawane said they have arrested Pandit under Section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, following a complaint filed by Tulsi's family. The police officer said that he was produced in a court on Tuesday and has been remanded to police custody for four days.
Sonawane said that the post-mortem report indicates that Tuli's cause of death is suicide. "We have sent the woman's phone, which is locked, to a forensic lab to analyse her conversations with the accused. We will soon record statements from her family members, roommates, close friends, and colleagues," Sonawane said.
What FIR Says
The FIR says that Tuli and Pandit met two years ago in Delhi during training for Commercial Pilot's Lincense. The woman used to live in Dwarka during her training, and later moved to Mumbai after getting a job at Air India in June 2023.
The FIR also reveals that Tuli's friends ad colleagues told her uncle Vivekkumar Tuli that Pandit often misbehaved with her and tried to control her. It also mentions an instance when she failed to make it to Pandit's sister's engagement due to work, following which he did not speak to her for around ten days. His behaviour towards her left her mentally disturbed, the FIR said.
In his statement to the police, Tuli's uncle stated that Pandit used to yell at her publicly. "Once at a party, he shouted at her for eating non-vegetarian food and stopped her from doing so again. He used to damage her car and leave her in the middle of the road. He used to harass her a lot, but Tuli loved him a lot," Vivekkumar said.
In the CCTV footage from Tuli's society, she can be seen coming back to her home after work on Sunday. She even spoke to her mother over phone without showing any signs of worry or sadness, which hints that she took the extreme step after arguing with Pandit, the FIR stated.
Police also said that Pandit had been preparing for a pilot exam but was unable to qualify.
Tuli's uncle told The Indian Express that although the post-mortem report indicates suicide, the family suspects that Pandit had killed her after giving her a sedative. "He used to withdraw money from her bank account, and we suspect he was blackmailing her. We have found some transactions. We would soon share these details with the police," he said.
Vivekkumar said that Tuli was the first woman pilot from Gorakhpur and was honoured by the UP Chief Minister. Her last rites were performed on Wednesday morning and were attended by hundreds of people who gathered to pay tribute to her.