Delhi cafe owner commits suicide amid divorce, business dispute with wife

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A man was allegedly found dead at his residence in Delhi on Tuesday evening, with the cops suspecting it as a death by suicide. According to the police, Puneet Khurana, co-founder of a famous cafe in Delhi, was found hanging in his room in Model Town's Kalyan Vihar area.


Khurana and his wife, Manika Jagdish Pahwa, were in the middle of getting a divorce. The duo, who owned Woodbox Cafe in the national capital, were allegedly engaged in a dispute over the business, officials said.


According to Khurana's family, he was 'upset' with his wife.


The two got married in 2016, officials said.

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In a disturbing 16-minute audio accessed by News Agency, Khurana and his wife can be heard fighting over the business property. "We are getting a divorce but I am still a business partner...you need to clear my dues," Khurana's wife said on the call.


The police have recovered Khurana's phone and called his wife for questioning.


The case drew parallels to the recent Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash's suicide case. The 34-year-old deputy general manager of a private firm, died by suicide in December. He left behind a 24-page suicide note, accusing his wife and her relatives of harassment. According to the victim, his wife and her family had filed a slew of false cases against him.


"The more I work hard and become better at my work, the more l 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 wrote.


A few days later, Subhash's wife Nikita Singhania, and her mother and brother were arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody.
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