Mumbai: A sessions court on Friday granted bail to Aditya Pandit (27), the boyfriend of Air India pilot Srishti Tuli (25) who was arrested for allegedly abetting her suicide in Nov.
In his plea for bail, argued by advocate Aniket Nikam, Pandit said he rushed to Tuli’s Marol residence when she did not pick up his calls on Nov 25, found a locksmith who helped him gain entry, and rushed her to a hospital. The plea said by no stretch of the imagination could it be said that it was a case of suicide abetment.
Pandit, who hails from Faridabad, was arrested on Nov 26. Tuli’s family has accused him of ill treatment and driving her to self-harm. A detailed copy of the bail order will be made available later.
The FIR was registered based on a complaint by Vivek Kumar Tuli, the pilot’s father. The family occasionally visited Mumbai. As per the FIR, after receiving news of her suicide, Vivek made some enquiries with her friends and learned that she had been dating Pandit and that the two had cohabited for five to six days prior to her death. On the day of the suicide, Pandit left for Delhi around 1pm, it said.
Nikam said a case of abetment to suicide had not been made out. “Immediately before committing suicide, the deceased spoke with her mother and the FIR itself shows that the pilot sounded normal. Merely because there were some fights between both of them, it would not mean that the applicant had any criminal intent. In order to attract the charge of abetment, it is necessary to show that the deceased was left with no other option but to commit suicide. This was not so in the present case.”
Asserting that Tuli was educated, Nikam said, “If she was unhappy in the relationship, she could have always walked out or if she was being harassed by the accused, she could have complained about it. Neither was there any complaint earlier nor any suicide note and, hence, it cannot be said that the applicant abetted the suicide.”