Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Whitefield, Shivakumar on Tuesday confirmed that Bengaluru-based techie Atul Subhash committed suicide in the early hours of December 9 following harassment from his wife and her family.
Speaking to ANI, the DCP said, “Atul Subhash committed suicide during the early hours of 9th of December. A complaint has been lodged at the Marathahalli police station in Bengaluru regarding this. Multiple cases were running against him in Uttar Pradesh.”
“His wife and her family members demanded money from him to settle this issue and harassed him. For those reasons, he died by suicide. Based on this complaint, we registered an FIR against the accused. An investigation is underway,” said the official.
Advocate Awadhesh Tiwari from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh also spoke to ANI on the case and said, “We received information on December 9 that he died by suicide. The allegations have been levelled against his wife and her mother, uncle and brother.”
“There were many cases filed against him by his wife, one was the case of maintenance– we were looking upon that, other than this, case of dowry, assault was being looked upon by the other lawyers. Atul Subhash belonged to Samastipur in Bihar and was residing in Bengaluru for work. He connected with me regarding a case. Cases of dowry and assault from him and his family members over his wife were charged against Atul and his family,” said the lawyer.
Adding further he said, “For maintenance, the settlement was done by the court this July 2024, stating that he would have to provide 20,000 for his son, later the sum was increased to Rs 40,000 per month. the wife had also requested the court for other amounts which was rejected by the court.”
The case of Bengaluru Techie Atul Subhash who died by suicide citing alleged harassment by his estranged wife has opened up a debate on the misuse of the dowry law.
Mumbai-based lawyer Abha Singh described the case as a ‘gross misuse of law,’ stating that false charges and harassment led to the death of the victim, suffering from harassment from his wife and in-laws.
“Dowry laws, being made to protect women should not be misused because if some women are going to misuse these laws, then it will directly deny justice to women who need them,” said the lawyer.
Delhi-based men’s rights activist Barkha Trehan said that Atul Subhash had been failed by the system, ultimately leading him to die by suicide.
Meanwhile, an FIR has been filed against 4 people in connection with the suicide. The FIR based on a complaint by Atul’s brother Bikas Kumar was lodged at the Marathahalli police station in Bengaluru. The FIR has been filed under section 108 (abetment of suicide) and section 3 (5) (establishes joint criminal liability when two or more people act with a common intention) of the BNS. The FIR is filed against the techie’s wife Nikita Singhania, his mother-in-law Nisha Singhania, his wife’s brother Anurag Singhania and his wife’s uncle Sushil Singhania.
As per the complaint filed by the brother of Atul, the FIR mentions that Atul Subhash married Nikita Singhania in 2019 and had a child together. The complaint alleges that the four accused filed a false case against Atul Subhash after their divorce and insisted on paying Rs 3 crore for the settlement of the case.
The complaint also alleges that Atul Subhash’s wife had demanded Rs 30 lakh to allow him to visit his son who is now four years old. The complaint alleges that Atul had died by suicide as he was harassed mentally and physically.
Based on the complaint, the case has been registered and an investigation is underway.
In his suicide note, Atul Subhash called for justice, stating, “Justice is Due” on every single page of the 24-page note. Along with his wife and her family members, Subhash also accused a family court judge in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur of not hearing him out, and an officer in the court accused him of taking bribes in front of the judge.
Subhash further described the instances that instigated him to take such a step. Subhash recorded a video describing his alleged harassment and asking his family members not to immerse his ashes till justice is served to him. His suicide note also had a message for his four-year-old son who he claimed had been kept estranged from him. The note also called for his parents to be given custody of his child.
The note and the link to the Video were sent to the WhatsApp group of an NGO, to which he was connected. Subhash alleged in his suicide note that his wife had filed nine cases against him, including murder, sexual misconduct, harassment for money, domestic violence, and dowry.