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Nikita Singhania, the estranged wife of 34-year-old techie Atul Subhash, her mother Nisha and brother Anurag have been arrested in an abetment to suicide case, days after Atul died by suicide after accusing Nikita and his family of harassment and extortion. While Nikita was arrested from Gurugram, her mother and brother were arrested in Allahabad. Her uncle Sushil, also an accused, is on the run.
The Singhanias have been produced in court and remanded in judicial custody. Earlier, Bengaluru police had asked them to appear within three days.
Nikita Singhania and her family members are at the centre of massive outrage over Atul Subhash's death by suicide and the allegations he made against them in a 24-page suicide note and an 80-minute video. The 34-year-old techie, originally from Bihar's Samastipur, was found dead at his Bengaluru flat on Monday. Police found a detailed note at his home, with every page starting with "justice is due".
In his suicide note and video, Subhash alleged that he married Nikita in 2019 after finding her on a matchmaking website. The couple had a son the next year. He alleged that Nikita and her family would ask him for huge amounts of money to set up businesses. Arguments broke out when he refused and she eventually left home in 2021 with their son.
The next year, Atul alleged, she filed a litany of cases against him and his family members under serious charges of cruelty against a woman, dowry harassment and even murder. The Singhanias accused Atul and his family members of harassing Nikita's late father for dowry, leading to his death. This case was, however, later withdrawn.
Atul Subhash said before his death that Nikita and her family members had filed multiple cases to harass him and extort a huge sum as alimony and maintenance. He said Nikita had demanded Rs 3 crore to settle the case. He also said that the court had asked him to pay Rs 80,000 monthly as maintenance to Nikita and his son, but she wanted more.
Also targeting the judicial system of favouring women in such cases, Subhash wrote in the note, "The more I work hard and become better at my work, the more I 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 also accused Nikita and her mother Nisha of instigating him to die on two occasions.
Following his death, his brother Bikas Kumar filed an abetment to suicide case against Nikita, her mother Nisha, brother Anurag and uncle Sushil Singhania. Atul's family alleged that he was under severe stress because of the legal fight and that he had to travel between Bengaluru and Jaunpur 40 times. They also said that Nikita refused to let him meet their son and demanded money for that too. Nikita's uncle Sushil Singhania earlier told the media that Atul's allegations are baseless and that they are innocent.
Atul Subhash's death has sparked massive outrage, with many pointing to the misuse of the Dowry Prohibition Act and the law to protect women from cruelty by her husband his relatives.